Kittens of Chaos
by Curtis Wildcat
Summary: A pair of kittens and a powerful mob boss launch a plan that, if it should work, will knock the Pizza Catsand Curtisout of the picture forever. What's to stop them? Let's find out, shall we? Emphasis is placed on the word review.
1. Prologue

  
Operation Pulverize Pizza Cats: Kittens of Chaos  
  
Author: G.A. Wildcat  
  
  
Welcome back. Apparently, after reading the Covert Operations set, you've decided that you wanted a taste of the aftermath. Well, here it is. It has appearances of all the characters of the TV series (not counting some of the minors, and Lucille has a slightly smaller role), the major characters of the Covert Operations set, as well as a few new ones.  
  
I'm going to tell you right now, there are a lot of references to popular items, phrases, and other things in this story. Those items are the sole property of their respective owners and companies, and are copyrighted as such, just like I mentioned before the "Four Jokers" fanfic. As Jonas Miles once put it, it's merely "echoing the greats", or something or other. There will be no danger involved in putting something in to spice up the story a little. (Those "greats" include such notables as Skankin' Speedy. Forgive me, but I didn't want to repeat the phrase "Great Warrior" over and over, and I couldn't think of another "medieval" name to use.)  
  
And to all those who can spot all the references, then 3 cheers and pat yourself on the back.  
  
This story takes place not long after the conclusion of "Owner of a Lonely Heart". The Pizza Cats and Curtis's team of Super-Cats have joined together and have defeated the A.L.D. once and for all. Question is, was their job thorough? Well, that's what we're going to find out.   
  
--------------------  
  
PROLOGUE  
  
He watched the short film clip for possibly the ninth time in the span of an hour. How that cursed Curtis Wildcat had taken his sword and had sliced and diced Quarter and his motley group into the eternal darkness that was domestication. How, in the end, that idiot Seymour "Big" Cheese had tried running to the mountains to escape the destruction, but had unwittingly got himself caught in the hands of the traitorous rock group, the Rude Noise. In all that time, he had come to one conclusion:  
  
The Cheese stood alone.  
  
Neither Seymour or Quarter could be equal to Curtis in terms of power or speed. Also, the calico had his newfound friends, the Samurai Pizza Cats, helping him all the way; and in the end, it was Speedy Cerviche, the leader of the bunch, who had destroyed the nuclear silo and, in the process, destroyed the Animal Legion of Doom along with it.  
  
But, surprisingly, he wasn't overwhelmingly mad about it, as the Big Cheese usually was. He was young, but he wasn't stupid. He was Chaos Kitten, and when the time came, he would match wits and power with Curtis and come out the victor. He wasn't just a hapless kitten that Quarter had sought ever since the U.S.'s National Guard burned away the lives of his alcohol-obsessed grandparents, who had gone on a spree of riots in his hometown in South Dakota. He wasn't even the spy who had unwittingly gotten himself knocked out in a small grocery store. Chaos K. had since recovered from that attack; now, it was time he seized the opportunity to flaunt his power.  
  
But first, he had to do something about those Pizza Cats. They were strong, and had the potential to become even stronger; perhaps even stronger than Curtis himself. However, they had their weak points; they argued a lot, and tended to ignore things that started out small before they got large, like that alien pig that Speedy had once become attached to.  
  
Fortunately, if the plan he had been working on for the past 3 weeks started out as well as he planned, he wouldn't have to worry about any of it.  
  
"Hey, Chaos?" a female voice shouted through his bedroom door.  
  
That was his cousin, Felonia Jase. She had started out as a clueless, abused yellow kitten; now, she had become as lethal and dangerous as the Ginyu Force warrior that she was named after. Perhaps even more so. She had ties to Curtis, as she had been accepted as a Super-Cat once before; however, she had become overly jealous of Curtis's extreme power, causing her to flee. She eventually joined Quarter and worked undercover to derive the latest news and information. "What is it, cuz?" Chaos shouted through the door.  
  
"I think you might want to check out the news," she shouted. "Something interesting is happening overseas."  
  
Chaos complied, pushing open the door to check out what Felonia had deemed important enough for him to see.  
  
And indeed it was. When he walked out of that room 6 minutes later, he had himself the plan. He would take down the Pizza Cats; but he would make that destruction slow. So slow, that by the time those nitwits had found out about it, it would be too late to do anything about it. And, by those means, he had discovered the perfect attack against Curtis. It wasn't any type of strength or energy. C.K. had plenty of those, but he had something else in mind. Rather, Chaos would make him look bad in the eyes of the Council and of the increasingly calm bunny that was Princess Violet. And he knew just the weapon to accomplish that goal:  
  
The destruction of the Pizza Cats.  
  
And, with that, the A.L.D.'s latest operation was spurred into motion.  
  
END OF PROLOGUE  



	2. City in Peace

1: City at Peace  
  
  
The next day started out like any other day that winter. The clouds still covered the sun, reminding the citizens of Little Tokyo that more snow was on the way. It was to be the biggest snowfall overall that the city had ever seen in 6 years. It was, after all, only the end of January.  
  
Speedy Cerviche, racing his way out of the pizza emporium, had other things on his mind, like delivering that bacon and egg breakfast special to his old friend, Lucille. He didn't care about how cold it was, and he could've cared less about the half-foot of snow on the ground. He and his friends had finally recovered from the final attack against Quarter, although they had been working for the past month on their business as always. Teasy Melika, captain of the Radical Cats, had personally saw to it that enough people stayed away from the pizza parlor to avoid hindering the injured Cats, but enough to keep the place in operation.  
  
Barging his way through an intense snowball fight, he finally arrived at Lucille's front door. He knocked several times, then waited.  
  
Eventually, Lucille did answer. However, she didn't appear to be in a very good mood. She grabbed the meal, slapped 10 dollars worth of currency in Speedy's palm, then slammed the door without even a hello. "Hello, I must be going," Speedy said to himself. He raced away, heading his way back towards the snowball fight.  
  
He didn't get very far, however, before the roof on Lucille's house blasted itself open. Speedy simply shrugged, and stopped. "Got up on the wrong side of the bed, obviously," he said.  
  
"Whatever gave you THAT idea?" a black figure to his right growled. Speedy turned in his direction; and sure enough, it was Ambush Cat. His fur was black; even blacker than usual, Speedy noticed.  
  
"What happened to you?" Speedy asked, puzzled.  
  
Ambush Cat shook his head, stretching. "Rule Number One of Being a Good Trickster: NEVER play mean tricks on Lucille without running 2 full miles after pulling it off."  
  
"Good idea," Speedy answered. "Or, rather: leave the city when she's REALLY upset. Most of the destruction of the city last year wasn't from just the comet. When Guido and I started fighting each other for Polly's sake after the comet attack, Lucille got so mad that her missiles wrecked what was left of the city."  
  
"I REALLY had to know that," Ambush Cat snarled, rubbing his head. "I'm heading to the pizza parlor. See if I can say hello to Francine while I'm there."  
  
That had been happening quite a lot over the past few weeks. Slowly but surely, Ambush Cat and Francine had noticed that they both had mild crushes on the other. Everyone was afraid of it at first, but things settled into a routine after Seymour's banishment to Prisoner Island. No one outside the SPC organization had noticed, anyway; Francine never told anybody in detail of what had led up to it, and Ambush Cat, a shade by nature, remained as aloof as ever.  
  
A loud voice echoed its way through the city, coming from the direction of the palace. "CURTIS WILDCAT, TURN OFF THAT BLASTED MUSIC!!" Speedy recognized that voice as that of Princess Violet. "IT'S GIVING ME A HEADACHE!!"  
  
"OH, STUFF IT IN YOUR EAR, HIGHNESS-NESS!" Curtis's voice roared back faintly. "IT'S ONLY ENYA!!"  
  
Speedy had to chuckle at that. But he didn't stay to hear anymore of it; those snowballs were coming dangerously close. Turning on the hover-jets, he blasted back to the parlor.  
  
-------------------------  
  
Back at the Pizza Cat eatery, things weren't as good. The place was REALLY busy that morning, and Francine, Polly, GB, and Guido would've passed out from exhaustion if Aldonza hadn't lent her skills to the group after coming in for breakfast that morning. That REALLY was how bad it was. REALLY. The only one not suffering any ill effects was Speedy; reason being was that he didn't care what the world had to throw at him anymore, and was now happier than a crowd of recently elected politicians.  
  
Outside, the group of people in the parlor were starting one of their favorite chants. "One, two, three, four, what do you think we came for? Pizza! Pizza!"  
  
"Pizza-pizza-po-pizza-banana-fana-fo-fizza, me-mi-mo-mizza....." another voice chimed in, in a sing-song tone. Some of the crowd began clapping when he continued the song, going into a full instrumental solo.  
  
Inside of herself, Francine had thanked that guy. A few days before, the self-proclaimed Champion of the Super-Cats, Grand Admiral Curtis Wildcat, had decided to pay Chico Melika to keep the crowd entertained. He had done quite well; even in all that time, he hadn't run out of songs to play on his keyboard, which was set up near a wall.  
  
There was a muffled gasp from outside in the serving area, followed by a thump. "You chowderhead! How dare y----" Polly's voice exclaimed, but she didn't get any farther when another thump resounded, followed by a crack as something made contact, and she landed on the floor within Fran's view.  
  
Polly picked herself up slowly, her face a little green. "What happened over there?" asked a puzzled Francine. "Something tells me your mean streak has just been stopped."  
  
"It's that sea lion in there again," she said quietly, sitting herself down at the table. "It's the same one who was getting on my nerves back when Big Al split us up and put me at Spritz's place. He obviously wanted a little revenge for what happened that first time I met him."  
  
Aldonza's voice came from where she was busy operating the Pizza-Maker. "Let me guess: he clobbered you."  
  
"Where it hurts," Polly managed. "He saw the bulge in my stomach and decided to take advantage of the situation. He pretended to be polite, and just when I was starting to be nice...."  
  
"There goes that cinnamon muffin you ate for breakfast," Aldonza said, giggling. "You learn any lessons?"  
  
"Yeah. One," Polly hissed. She walked over and grabbed a rolling pin with one hand and a frying pan with another. "Regardless of what the consultant Slam Somali told me, it helps to keep one paw in my old life."  
  
"Don't go back in there while he's in there," Aldonza warned. "I've kept my eye on that guy for the past 2 weeks. He's been working out at Runner's new gymnasium on the far side of town. Not with the special barbills, though; but he's buff. I tried talking to him earlier, and he tied my tail in a double knot. Did it so fast my eyes were going in circles, practically."  
  
Francine winced. Aldonza's tail was useful for flying, but not for use as a shoelace. "Well, what am I supposed to do?" she heard Polly ask. "I can't just let him get away with it!"  
  
Aldonza yanked the frying pan out of her hand. "No one told you I used to be the top rebounder at UNLV, did they?" She walked out of the room.  
  
Polly looked at Francine, who only shrugged her shoulders and continued handing out pizzas. "I don't see how being a good basketball player has anything to do with it."  
  
"Ssssh," Polly hissed, turning to the scene outside. "I want to see this." She set the rolling pin aside.  
  
"You again," the sea lion snarled. "Obviously, you like having your tail twisted. By the time I get done, your number of injuries will be hard to compute."  
  
"Oh, YEAH??" Aldonza's voice howled. "COMPUTE THIS!!!"  
  
Polly looked out the door just in time to see Aldonza do a backflip in mid-air and land the pan down **HARD** on the sea lion's head. She followed it up with a kick at the knees, knocking him out cold before he could utter another word. Dusting off her paws triumphantly, she turned to the feline femme fatales. "See, Polly, THAT'S how it's done!"  
  
Polly shook her head. "I could never jump that high."  
  
"I think you've forgotten that you're no longer mechanical," GB, or Good Bird, said quietly. He had just returned from making a series of deliveries with Guido's assistance. "Thanks to those special formulas and machines Guru Lou and Atom Cat concocted, we don't have that 'robotic' look anymore. Our energy packs still have somewhat of an influence, but it's not really as important anymore unless it's an emergency."  
  
"It's a wonder that Atom Cat has been with Lou this long," Guido said. "The way they were yelling at each other when we came in for those operations? Ha!"  
  
Aldonza walked back inside, handed the frying pan back to Polly, and walked back to the Pizza-Maker. "You can continue your job, Polly. Daniel will be here in a minute to drag him out."  
  
Polly did so. "Thank goodness for high-flying morons," she said under her breath.  
  
Aldonza turned her head. "Hey, I heard that."  
  
Polly just shrugged. "Sorry."  
  
Outside in the serving area, Chico began playing music from the Mos Eisley cantina.  
  
----------------------------  
  
Curtis stood at the very top of Mount Coochiyama, paying no attention for once to how high he was in the air. The only thing that was on his mind was the thrashings he and Violet had exchanged 10 minutes ago. After being yelled at without letup, Curtis worked out a compromise and retreated to the mountain to be alone with his thoughts. And his Walkman.  
  
Standing near the statue in which the Supreme Catatonic and its electronic Goonie Birds had once been housed, he stared out at the city. In the distance, he could see the high-flying Cuckoo Bird, who made his home inside the mountain, yelling his round head off. Also, from his position, he could easily spot the outer workings of the Palace. And if he checked his most powerful pair of binoculars, he could see his most skillful starfighter commander, Carlos Cosmos, and Violet out on the outskirt streets of the city, taking a tour that was led by Lucille.  
  
Curtis stopped his tape player and set it inside his duffel bag which he liked to lug around. Sitting down on the edge of the mountain and straightening his sword scabbard, he turned his thoughts to how he had gotten in this position.  
  
He had first arrived in the late summer of 1999, not long after the Animal Legion of Doom destroyed his precious Mansion and had taken away his most beloved friend, Shila, to seek a new life. Through a series of incidents, he proved to Speedy and the other Pizza Cats that regardless of him being an extremely mean teenager, he DID have a heart. The most devastating of those incidents by far was the attack on the nuclear silo, when Curtis just about risked his own life, as well as that of his friend, so that Speedy could complete his mission. The one that was closest to that was when Polly managed to make it to the fight against that huge laser base, Curtis had dived in front of her to block that laser hit. Now that Quarter and his cronies had been domesticated, that Jerry Atrick had returned to his now small Flying Skull clan, and that Seymour Cheese was stranded on an island for good, Curtis could finally rest easy.  
  
"Curtis," a deep voice rumbled.  
  
The voice startled him; there was no doubt about that. But he remembered that he was on the edge of a cliff, not on a wide plain. So, instead of yanking out his sword reflexively and spinning around, he turned around slowly, trying to search out the source of the noise.  
  
And found himself face-to-face with the legendary Catatonic Warrior, who was standing at the foot of the statue. "It's him," Curtis murmured. Flinching noticeably, he returned the Warrior's gaze. "What are you doing here?" the calico asked.  
  
"You are to be commended for restructuring the Supreme Catatonic," the Warrior growled, "and for risking your nine lives to protect the Samurai Pizza Cats. The final diagnostics of the Catatonic are completed, and the robot awaits reinsertion inside the statue."  
  
Curtis remained silent. There was no way he wanted to anger THIS guy, who was a more powerful sword-wielder than Curtis could ever hope to be. No matter HOW well-informed this guy was, either.  
  
"However, there are still two things I need you to do in order to consider you a true hero of the city. Two things before I can believe that you've renounced the darkness in your own way."  
  
Deep inside, Curtis moaned. "And what are those two things, Great Warrior?" he asked. There was no sarcasm in his voice, for once. But at the same time, he felt anxious to know...  
  
"Just call me Hanzou," the Warrior said. "First off, the Animal Legion of Doom has not been destroyed. You must complete that mission, or else Earth faces certain destruction."  
  
Upon hearing those words, the anxiety inside Curtis erupted into full-blown shock. "WHAT!!?" he all but screeched at him before he remembered to keep his temper under control.  
  
"That's correct," Hanzou said, unfazed. "There is still a remnant of the group that you had thought to destroy. He wields more power than the one you call Frieza, and he's twice as devious as the criminal leader of Black Sun. His cousin, Felonia Jase, is his most powerful agent---"  
  
"Yes," Curtis interrupted. "I know. Felonia used to be one of my Super-Cats, but she decided she didn't want to be around someone who was even more powerful than her, so she left. Why she decided to join up with someone else, I don't know."  
  
"That is correct, Wildcat," Hanzou said, addressing him by his last name. "Your first mission is to defeat Chaos Kitten and Felonia at any cost."  
  
"Chaos Kitten, huh?" Curtis muttered. "Thanks, Hanzou. Now, what was the second thing you wanted me to do?"  
  
"There is a certain someone you may remember who now resides in this city," Hanzou growled. "You must protect her until Chaos Kitten has been defeated, for she holds the key to the survival of your princess."  
  
THAT was interesting. Someone that was capable of rescuing Violet from death? He had to remember that. "Who is this person?"  
  
"I believe a complete description will do you better, youngster. She has medium-length black hair, likes the color gray, is about one-eighth of a cubit taller than you. She's currently staying at Little Tokyo Hospital, and she's staying there until she fully recovers from the operation she had last week."  
  
"Right," Curtis said sarcastically. "What's a cubit?"  
  
Hanzou paused. "Let's see. A cubit. I used to know what a cubit was.....but don't worry about that right now. Oh, and in case it helps, she's a little more than HALF of what you weigh."  
  
Curtis slapped himself on his face. Just what he needed. "Congratulations," he hissed. "The key to my heart is inside my stomach."  
  
Hanzou just shrugged. "Like I said to Speedy close to a year ago, I possess the whiskers of wisdom and the claws of the crow. I've been keeping an eye on you ever since you first started your personal quest. If you complete your missions, I'll try to think of some way to reward you."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, don't remind me," Curtis muttered. "If you're done talking to me, now, I have some things to do."  
  
"The fate of Little Tokyo is in your paws," Hanzou said quietly. And with a flick of his cape, he was gone.  
  
"How many times have I heard THAT one?" Curtis said aloud into the silence. Receiving no answer, he grabbed his bag, leaped into the air and jumped into lightspeed mode, disappearing like the darkness.  
  
Or what the darkness was.  



	3. Rogue Warriors

2: Rogue Warriors  
  
  
The small silver and yellow speedboat that Chaos Kitten had stolen raced its way through the Panama Canal, dodging Latin American patrols and making speed for the Atlantic Ocean.  
  
A small wave lifted the boat into the air, but both he and Felonia stood their ground and stayed inside the boat. "Maybe we should've taken the Strait of Magellan?" Felonia yelled, disgusted.  
  
"We have to stick with the Canal," Chaos yelled back. "It's the quickest way to Manhattan. After receiving that invitation from the Cheese crime mafia, I'm not going to reject it." An idea came into his head. "Felonia, on my mark, commence with Tenth Triforce!"  
  
The news report featured an open invitation from one of Seymour Cheese's relatives, a certain Chester Korbi. Korbi had also warned that if anyone tried to interfere with their meeting, they would have a special appointment with the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Chaos Kitten had tapped into Quarter's old hideout and had sent Korbi a message saying that he would meet him at New York.  
  
"Commence....NOW!!" Chaos's command interrupted her thoughts. Felonia's raised her left paw and clapped it, above her head, with her cousin's own paw.  
  
A beam of light, orginating from orginally empty air, that resembled the powerful Triforce shot its lethal way into the water. The resulting tidal wave washed over their pursuers, sending them flying. Some landed in the water, hanging on for life on the pieces of their boats until assistance could come. Others were sent clear over the edge of the canal.  
  
"Excellent work, Felonia," Chaos purred. "Now, on to Manhattan. We've got a date with destiny!"  
  
The boat roared out of the canal, arrowing for southern Texas. Burying the boat a half mile from the Mexican border, Felonia and Chaos took the land route, traveling along the border, stopping only to set fire to a building in Louisiana to hide their trail.  
  
Heading straight for a mission in Manhattan.  
  
-----------------------------  
  
"I'm telling you, this can't wait," the giant rodent ranted. "The army of citizens over there are more than powerful enough to vanquish the rest of the world. Something has to be done IMMEDIATELY!!"  
  
Chester Cheddar stared at his nephew through the bars of his jail cell. This guy, who was Seymour Cheese's brother, had the same insanity. "Something tells me, my dear Kounn, is that you've had one too many cups of Java this morning. Why don't you go outside and head home? The exercise and fresh air is good for you."  
  
"You think this is a joke, don't you, old man?" Kounn snarled. His short hair flared in all directions. "If you're not going to dispatch a force to destroy the people of that city, I'll take charge and handle it myself!"  
  
"You'll never be able to reach the city," Cheddar warned. "Especially if you don't want to face the Samurai Pizza Cats."  
  
"I don't have to take this," Kounn hissed. "If you don't think I can take out Little Tokyo myself, you have to be the most craziest man on the face of this Earth!"  
  
With that, Kounn stormed out, not even bothering to say good-bye.  
  
"Sad," Cheddar said to the guard outside his cell. "Sad to see someone so normal turn insane in the blink of an eye."  
  
"I know the feeling," said a familiar voice. The guard turned around so that Cheddar could see his face. However, it wasn't the face of the security guard that had been hired to watch him.  
  
It was Cosmo, New York Pizza Cat.  
  
"Just how long have you been standing there?" asked Cheddar.  
  
"Long enough," was all he said in response. The tall cat winked and walked away, while Cheddar just hung his head, wondering what would become of the relative that had turned so quickly against him. He knew what would become of him, in reality; he would fail, like so many had before him, to face off against Little Tokyo. To face off against Speedy Cerviche.  
  
To face off against Curtis Wildcat.  
  
-----------------------------------  
  
Cosmo met DeeDee, Abigail, and Sundance on the steps of the New York Pizza Cat. "I have news for you," Cosmo said.  
  
Sundance interjected before his buddy could continue. "What's the word from the prison? Do we have enough head time to head off Kounn?"  
  
Cosmo shook his head. "Unfortunately, no. Kounn commandeered one of the National Guard's planes, took command of a bunch of Chester's fighting machines, and launched for Little Tokyo 5 minutes ago. That means it's too late for us to intercept the plane. Speedy and the others need to be on their guard, and the plane will arrive there in 5 hours, if my estimations are correct."  
  
"Let Curtis handle it," DeeDee suggested. "If Kounn's as insane as I think he is, he probably only brought the Third-Class Tank Blasters with him. It should be an easy job for that Grand Admiral character to handle."  
  
Sundance nodded, a smile on his face. "That's one of your better ideas, sweetheart. Abigail, you go contact Big Al Dente over in Little Tokyo. He should know what to do."  
  
Two figures blazed on by just then, leaving behind a trail of dust. "Those idiots just broke the speed limit!" Abigail shouted, fanning away the dust.  
  
"Abigail, contact Big Al," Sundance yelled, trying not to cough. "Let US worry about those guys!"  
  
Abigail, although still a bit shaken, nodded. "Got it!" She raced back inside the building.  
  
"Well, Sundance?" Cosmo asked. "What do you think of this whole situation? Kounn's planning an attack on Little Tokyo, and that little announcement that Korbi made....what's YOUR reaction?"  
  
Sundance's answer came out cold. "I believe we are going to be in a world of trouble. You just mark my words, Cosmo. This world will never be the same again."  
  
The cloud of dust gradually disappeared.  



	4. Tricks and Traps

3: Tricks and Traps  
  
  
After landing 5 miles outside of the city, Kounn immediately opened the hatch of his airplane, dropping his Tank Blasters to the ground. Carrying his own rifle with him, he dropped himself to the hard terrain.  
  
But his expectations had been proved false; no giant army had been waiting there to meet him. And weren't the Pizza Cats supposed to have shown up right about now, like they usually did? "All Tank Blasters, keep an eye out for those Cats," Kounn snapped. "When they show up, I intend to have them in my grasp."  
  
Kounn and the Tank Blasters marched along the ground, not even bothering to cover up their tracks. Even now, he was considering what he would do when he burned the Palace. Perhaps imprison the Princess when he built a fortress in the Palace's place. Yes, he thought, THAT would be interesting to see what would happen if the city's beloved ruler is seen behind bars....  
  
Kounn redirected his attention to the path he had been traveling. He would've thought to have been on the outskirts of the city, by now, but no: he been traveling straight into the forest instead of into the city.  
  
And, as he looked around, he realized he had been standing in the opening of the forest for too long. As if he was standing in the midst of a trap....  
  
He didn't even see it coming until it was nearly too late. But even then, Kounn wasn't really expecting an attack. What he DID see was really surprising in itself. He saw a rather overweight cat bouncing from Tank Blaster from Tank Blaster, demolishing each one in a matter of seconds. The cat had fur decorated orange, black, and white, thus identifying it as a calico.  
  
Kounn recognized the figure immediately; he had remembered seeing the photos that Chester had once shown him. It was Curtis R. Wildcat, the "champion of the Super-Cats", as his uncle put it.  
  
A sudden explosion startled Kounn from his thoughtful stupor. Curtis was standing in front of him, his sword drawn. Behind him, the Tank Blasters had been utterly vaporized, smoke trailing from a dozen points in the soil. "Ready to have some fun, Kounn Gorgon?" the cat hissed.  
  
Maybe if he begged for his life, Kounn decided, he could change Curtis's mind. "Please, don't destroy me," the rodent begged. "I have many family members who would gladly pay for my release!"  
  
Curtis just smiled, unfazed. "To quote a great bounty hunter, 'You can't love life too much.' I'm about to save myself the trouble of having to deal with your smart-alek relatives." He muttered something else----sounded like "hybrid-trash coward", but he wasn't sure.  
  
With that, the feline's sword lengthened---quite noticeably, Kounn mused----and he began spinning it ceremoniously. A gray haze seemed to form in mid-air. Curtis leaped into the air and screamed a battle cry: "867-5309!!!" With that, the calico slashed downward, releasing the gray energy blast he had used many times before.  
  
-------------------  
  
Kounn spiraled off over the horizon, screaming long and loud. For a moment, Curtis thought he heard Kounn yell something like "Kounn's blasting off again!" just before he exploded; and for the first time in an hour, the calico finally breathed easy.   
  
But there was a mystery to solve. Why had Kounn, who was apparently insane, taken over that airplane and a dozen of the weakest Tank Blasters he had owned? He couldn't think of another reason that he had...besides the fact that the Cheese family had arisen again and was planning a hostile takeover. What Kounn had done would only be the dressing on the salad. This was definitely something that he would have to investigate if he was to complete his mission.  
  
Putting Shape-Shifter away, Curtis began the slow task of searching the jet's interior for more information.  
  
---------------------  
  
Felonia stood guard at the door's entrance. Just recently, she and Chaos Kitten had made it to Gorgonzola International HQ to meet with the new representative of the Cheese family, Chester Korbi. At the moment, Chaos was busy explaining something to him.  
  
"All right, so here's the plan," Chaos Kitten slowly explained to Chester Korbi. "You use those codes I provided to secretly tap into the assets of the United Nations and the whole country. You can use the stolen funds to slowly build up enough of an attack force to slowly turn the rest of the continent to your control."  
  
"Good, good," the skeletal Korbi said, nodding his head.  
  
Chaos pointed towards a code on the bottom of his list. "I'll use this last code here to tap into the treasury of Little Tokyo. The one above it Shana Cheese can use to steal money from the Pizza Cats. You getting all of this?"  
  
"Oh, sure....steal money from the Pizza Cats," a gray fox from Michigan said sourly. "That's sure going to do you a whole a lot of good if Curtis sees right through the plot and turns it into flaming debris. Back in 1996, I plotted to destroy his Mansion, and that attack....which I had thought up for a whole year....FAILED miserably because of those jet-blasted Super-Cats! They were just too strong and too fast for me to stop them!"  
  
"Which is why just stealing the money from them isn't my ultimate goal," Chaos shot back. He continued talking to Korbi, saying: "I want them to die a slow and agonizing death. If timed just right, the drain of assets from their accounts will lead Princess Violet to view Curtis as a martyr and traitor. Without Curtis or either of the Pizza Cats branches, we have ourselves an opportunity to sweep away the world's defenses and conquer them!"  
  
"I've heard that one already," Korbi said. "When I ran for mayor of New York City in the last election, I said repeatedly I couldn't be stopped. That was when those cursed New York Pizza Creeps destroyed my campaign car, causing me to lose by a landslide."  
  
"The only thing vhat cheered him up vas Vat Bunny Costanza's elimination of the Vhiladelvia Vizza Cats," commented a rather spiffy-looking rat from Russia, "if vhat Korbi told me was correct."  
  
"This time, it's true," Chaos hissed. "Get Shana Cheese busy on this thing at approximately midnight 2 days from now. I want to get set on my takeover as soon as possible."  
  
"So our alliance is agreed?" Korbi offered, extending a hand.  
  
Chaos Kitten grasped it. He may be a warrior, but he certainly wasn't averse to having a good partnership. AND he was honest, like Quarter before him, so Korbi didn't have to worry about him being a backstabber. A lot of evil people before them had fallen as a result of them backstabbing someone; he wasn't willing to take any more risks. "Agreed," he said quietly. Releasing Korbi's hand, he signalled for Felonia to vacate her post by the door. "C'mon, cousin. Let's get started on the start...."  
  
"....of Operation Pulverise Pizza Cats!"  
  
He and Felonia walked out the door, leaving Korbi and the rest of the Cheese crime family staring after them.  
  
Felonia broke the silence first as they walked through the empty hallway. "That was certainly a pleasant experience."  
  
"I wouldn't count on the rest of it being pleasant," Chaos Kitten said in reply. "From here on, we've got to start building up forces of our own to take down Little Tokyo. It has to done quietly, though; knowing Curtis, he probably spied on Quarter each time he brought up something about destroying those blasted Samurai. It could also explain how he was able to take out Quarter's special nuclear silo."  
  
"So, where do you plan to start this massive buildup?" Felonia scratched her arm, then slipped her hand back in her shirt pocket.  
  
"There's a deserted outpost not far from the 200-mile island that the city is situated on," Chaos explained. "Curtis's routine patrols don't extend that far out away, because he likes to hang around the Palace and bother the Princess a lot. Neither of them will have to worry about bothering the other once I'M done."  
  
Felonia trembled, just noticeably, at the sound of the laughing that followed; but slowly, she settled down and laughed a little bit, herself. "All right, then," she said. "Let's get to it."  



	5. Changes on the Horizon

4: Changes on the Horizon  
  
  
Early the next morning on the other side of the globe, Teasy and Sylvia Melika dropped on by the Pizza Cats' place. Speedy and GB were there, playing checkers. Guido was channel flipping in the kitchen. Aldonza was seated at the counter, writing something in a small journal. Francine and Polly, however, were nowhere to be seen.  
  
Teasy spoke first. "Well, Speedy, you guys are organized, for once."  
  
"Today's an off-day," Speedy growled. "With all the money we've made recently, Francine thinks it's a good time to rest up a little. Does that drive something in through that thick skull of yours?"  
  
"My skull's not thick," Teasy protested. He made little waving motions at the air, then did his best Chico Marx impression. "There'sa just a lotsa comedic sponge in here thata absorbs laughter from all directions."  
  
"Save the smart-talk," Sylvia interrupted. "Hey, Speedy, where's Polly and Francine?"  
  
"Francine had to take Polly to a physical," Guido said from the kitchen. "Fran had some suspicions on why Polly's becoming substantially overweight, and so she made the decision last night to take Polly today to the office. Just so she could confirm her thoughts."  
  
Teasy flinched. "I hope she doesn't try to kill anyone. Last time she was at the doctor's office, she put 7 people in critical condition, including one that was a special guest at the Live House for my comedy routine."  
  
"She won't," GB assured him.  
  
As if to punctuate his words, Francine and Polly both walked in the door at the moment. Not with the casual violence that they usually cast on anyone in their way, but with the happiness that usually followed an exciting event. "Obviously, the doctor WAS hurt," Teasy said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice.  
  
"It was definitely a Kodak moment," Polly purred. "I was just too overjoyed to knock him out."  
  
"Yeah, I'll bet," Teasy muttered. "He probably only needed a set of stitches."  
  
"Right," Polly said. "That's true. But guess what else they found...." Her face turned sinister. "LAST NIGHT, SOMEONE PAINTED MY TOENAILS!!"  
  
"Let me see the face you made," Teasy said, chuckling.  
  
For a moment, Polly looked like she was about to clobber him into next year, but she calmed down at the last second. "Oh, never mind. I'll forgive you and Ambush Cat....THIS time."  
  
"Whatever you say, Old Halibut Breath," Teasy murmured. Polly frowned at that, causing him to flinch, but she said nothing.  
  
"You're unusually happy this morning," Sylvia said. "What's up with that?"  
  
"Take a wild guess, Silky," Francine sighed, quoting Teasy. "Take a wild guess."  
  
Teasy looked at the two faces, horror written on his own. Surely she couldn't have....  
  
....but no. Just by looking at her, he could tell that she HAD. "Oh, no. Whatever those little creeps are going to do, I do NOT want to be around when they do it."  
  
"Oh, come on," Polly chided him. "Having a couple of kids isn't going to be so bad. Why do you think I got married to Speedy in the first place?"  
  
"Take a wild guess," Teasy snapped, mimicking his favorite phrase himself. "Take a wild guess. Kids have to be THE brattiest things on this whole mudball. Take one look at a kid considering knocking over a valuable vase and you can forget about any future peace and quiet."  
  
Aldonza barked her agreement. "I've had experience with young pups. Trust me; it's NOT a good idea, and it's not safe, either!"  
  
"Teasy, Aldonza, what's wrong with you?" Speedy yowled, facing the two. "Polly and I decided that we were going to have kids, and that is that. Nothing you're going to say NOW is going to change that!"  
  
Aldonza stared at Speedy for a few seconds, then said something under her breath that would've gotten her in trouble with Curtis's claws. Guido's sharp ears heard what was said. He looked at her momentarily, disturbed by her misuse of the English language, then turned back to the television.  
  
GB, in the meantime, jumped several of Speedy's checker pieces. "King me," he said. Speedy turned his head back towards the game and slapped his own face in despair.  
  
Teasy ignored Speedy's sudden outburst and looked around, searching for support. Sylvia wasn't paying attention to him anymore, though; she had sat down next to Guido and joined him in flipping between the channels. Slowly, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.  
  
And with a flick of his wrist, upstaged the checker board, sending checkers flying everywhere. Without knowing what had happened, Polly and Francine had rushed to help Speedy and GB pick up all the checker pieces and rearrange them on the board.  
  
And, just like that, Teasy was gone. Aldonza noted that and snarled, but continued writing in her journal.  
  
Guido finally found a channel he wanted, and stuck with it. "What happened over there?"  
  
"Teasy didn't like the idea of us having children," Polly said quietly.  
  
"My brother's always been that stupid," Sylvia commented, putting what she had gathered up on the table. "He cares only about himself and usually doesn't think of other people when he makes his decisions." She retied a loose ribbon on her left shoe.  
  
"Tell us something we don't know," Francine said.  
  
"How about what's going on this television?" Guido shouted from the kitchen, his voice rising. "There's a large riot happening over in New York!"  
  
"THERE'S WHAT???" everyone else yelled in unison. And, as one, they ran in front of the television.  
  
The view on the screen wasn't pretty. A large crowd had stormed the mayor's office of New York City. From the looks of it, it was looking as if they had wanted to get rid of the mayor himself.  
  
"About 35 minutes ago," the newscaster reported, "2 young kittens seen off to the sides somehow managed to incite the crowd to riot. They were just standing there, muttering something, and a large group of people had suddenly stormed in front of the----"  
  
There was a sudden yellow flash that contained traces of fur. When the screen returned to normal a few seconds later, the newscaster was no longer there, leaving behind just a few scuffling noises. A second later, the head of a yellow kitten appeared in the camera. "COME ON, CAMERAMAN! SHOW US THE GOOD NEWS!!" it shouted.  
  
The person over there must have decided to comply, and the camera panned over to the right. Off to that side stood the New York Pizza Cats in their civilian garb, just standing there and not even bothering to move a muscle. Their faces, however, seemed red and puffy around the eyes. "The New York Pizza Cats have been temporarily paralyzed and cannot do anything about the present situation. If they move, then you know what happens to the mayor."  
  
The parlor was filled with the sounds of silence. No one bothered to argue, either, as GB whistled the tune "Pop Goes the Weasal".  
  
Eventually, the image on the camera shifted suddenly so it was taking in the sky, then turned to static.  
  
-----------------------  
  
The streets of New York City cleared out, and for a single dark minute, they were empty. Chaos Kitten and Felonia appeared satisfied with all the damage and devastation that had been caused.  
  
"That was one clever way of sparking the crowd's angry side," Felonia commented. "What with those insults, and all..."  
  
"I hadn't told you until now that I've been able to throw my voice," Chaos replied. "All I had to do was pretend the insults were coming from the window in the mayor's office, and the rest was history."  
  
Korbi peaked out of hiding. "Is it safe to go in, yet?"  
  
"As safe as it ever will be," Chaos said.  
  
That was Korbi's signal to move. He slowly marched into the office. Trailing behind him were hundreds and hundreds of robot drones, varying from the large to the small. "Have the connections between the mayor's office and Gorgonzola International Headquarters been set up?" he asked one of the drones.  
  
"Connection complete," answered the drone in a monotone voice. For a moment, it reminded Felonia of the droids from the Trade Federation, except that THESE were bulkier.  
  
Korbi allowed himself the satisfaction of a smile. He walked inside the building, carrying what appeared to be an important document with him.  
  
"What's that he's holding in his hand?" Felonia asked, curiousity overcoming her.  
  
"You'll see soon enough," Chaos said. "I'm just happy those New York Pizza Cats weren't able to interfere. What did you do, anyhow?"  
  
"I simply warned them that if they tried to stop the mob, I'd make mincemeat out of the mayor." Felonia held back a laugh. "There's nothing like a decent round of blackmail to take the fun out of the situation."  
  
Korbi's voice erupted over New York. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began, "I've come to you in the heat of the darkness that has been placed around us. And, in the LIGHT of this situation, I have been called upon to put an end to this conflict at any way possible. If there's going to be any way for me to help the people of this city join together, I'm going to find it! Join me, everyone, and I'll bring happiness and prosperity to this wonderful city!"  
  
At first, there was silence; then, full-blown cheering. Felonia decided that the peoples didn't think that Korbi's speech was lame, and decided to compensate for it, instead.  
  
Chaos simply stood there. He and Felonia both knew what Chester Korbi had in mind for this city. First, it would be direct control of all economic and military systems, including those in the country's capital, and then a slow military buildup to overcome the rest of the nation. The fact that it violated the United States Constitution made no difference to him.  
  
It wasn't until the cheering stopped that he allowed himself the luxury of a grin.  
  
----------  
  
Sundance, Cosmo, and DeeDee stared up at the office of their recently-appointed mayor. Their first REAL failure in their history. And now, Korbi was taking advantage of it.  
  
Sundance wiped away the last of his tears. "Well, what can I say?" he muttered. "I tried to warn you."  
  
DeeDee grabbed his arm and started walking in the general direction of their parlor. "C'mon. Let's just go. We still have a LOT of stuff to get done."  
  
Cosmo followed seconds later, picturing the future of his hometown. With a chill, he realized that Sundance's guess would be correct.  



	6. Of the Day's Annoyances

5: Of the Day's Annoyances  
  
  
That night, after Korbi had been installed as mayor, Chaos and Felonia returned to their temporary home, which was Quarter's former hideout, via a multiple-lightspeed highway. They ate a dish each of spaghetti and meatballs in silence, and after they played "Trivial Pursuit" to pass the time, Felonia went to bed, complaining all the while about a lack of beauty sleep. It was at this moment that Chaos decided to use his special code to tap into the Little Tokyo Treasury.  
  
AUTHORIZATION GRANTED  
  
PLEASE ENTER SECOND CODE  
  
This took Chaos totally by surprise. Nothing had told him about there being a second code. "Now, what am I supposed to do?" he said to himself.  
  
Then, something that Quarter had once told him popped into memory. :::Think of the most obvious. What it usually is, isn't.:::  
  
Chaos sat alone, trying to think of the most obvious code. The most obvious would be VIOLET-IS-NUMBER1-, but that was way TOO obvious. "I have to give the Council more credit than that," he whispered. Instead, he typed in the code -WTSBBV-, which was short for "Wave the sky Bye-Bye, Vi". For a fleeting instant, he wondered how many people got exiled for using that password in the first place.  
  
SECONDARY AUTHORIZATION GRANTED  
  
WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE A WITHDRAWL?  
  
y  
  
ENTER MONEY TO BE WITHDRAWN  
  
800  
  
TRANSFER TO ACCOUNT NUMBER 140082 COMPLETE  
  
WOULD YOU LIKE TO MAKE ANOTHER WITHDRAWL?  
  
n  
  
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING LITTLE TOKYO ONLINE BANKING. GOOD DAY  
  
Chaos Kitten closed down the program and snickered to himself. Every couple hours, he would sign on again, making increasingly large withdrawls. The more money he stole, the higher the chance that Curtis would be fingered by Violet for the treachery, and the more money C.K. would have to create his army. And even if Little Tokyo won the fight, which was highly unlikely, they would still have to regain all that money. The terrible financial situation would still accomplish his goal of demolishing the city.  
  
Placing the sheet with his account number underneath his keyboard, he switched off the computer, tried not to drag himself to his room, and decided to try to get a few hours sleep.  
  
--------------  
  
The invitation from up on high came down to the Pizza Cats that a huge party was being thrown in the town square to celebrate Curtis's victory against Kounn. Regardless of the fact that it had been engineered by Atom Cat and that there wouldn't be enough food for everyone, Speedy, Guido, and GB had all jumped at the opportunity to join in the festivities, leaving the female members of the team to face an important decision: would they open the parlor today, or wouldn't they?  
  
Polly, Francine, Aldonza, and Carla Crow sat together in the upstairs living area to talk about the problem. And their decision was unanimous.  
  
"I say don't open it," Carla started it off. "If those slackers aren't going to stick around to do their work, you might as well not bother."  
  
"Especially with the fact that even with all 4 of us running it, we'd be out of breath before the first hour was up," Aldonza chimed in. She checked the bandage on her right arm; Curtis had heard about what she had said about what happened in the parlor just recently. "Wait until we have a guaranteed day for those idiots to show up at work, then we can open it."  
  
"Well, since we've got the whole day to ourselves, what do you want to do?" asked Polly.  
  
"I still have a large amount of money left in our pockets after that big Garlic Jr. Pizza sale. I'm going to take my credit card, my wallet, and do some decent shopping." Already, visions were filling Francine's head, which consisted of new winter clothing and a brand-new television set.  
  
"DECENT shopping," a voice growled, clearing the fog from her brain. "Don't forget that."  
  
No one even bothered to turn their head. That was a mistake; Ambush Cat dropped down next to them, almost landing on their heads.  
  
"A.C.. How come you're not at that huge get-together on the opposite side of town?" Aldonza asked.  
  
"Isn't it obvious?" snarled the Black Maine Coon, who spoke like a human but preferred to walk on all fours like the cat that he was. "I'm not over there because I wasn't invited. I was planning on doing some prowling around like I usually do, maybe even scare up a few dollars and drop by the fried chicken outlet. I'm also planning on doing some table tennis with the Rescue Team. THEY weren't invited, either." He swiped his tongue over his front paws, then smoothed down the fur on his head.  
  
"And what was that crack about DECENT shopping?" a suspicious Francine said quietly.  
  
"It always pays to leave your closet door closed," Ambush Cat chuckled. "Not to mention your bedroom door. Outfits like that deserve to be cremated."  
  
"If you've touched them----" Francine started to say.  
  
Ambush Cat hissed, cutting her off. In between words, he started grooming his tail. "If you want to go with immodesty, fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you; Curtis wouldn't see you dead in one of those. But then again, he might." He paused. "And you know how Curtis feels when he sees something he doesn't like." He wedged open the window, dropped to the ground below, and scampered away to resume his prowling.  
  
--------------  
  
The 4 girls strolled around the department store, pushing a cart ahead of them. The cart was stock-full of the latest fads in clothing, music CDs and tapes, and frying pans. However, the bad stuff started when Francine pulled out her credit card.  
  
The cashier scanned the credit card for a moment, frowned, then scanned it again. Again, the same result each time. "I'm sorry, Miss Manx, but it appears you still owe us AND the credit card company $680 dollars for your purchase of those 2 new credenzas."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Francine said, disbelieving. "I paid for that furniture a month after the comet hit!"  
  
"I can't really explain it myself, Miss," said the cashier, "but I'm afraid you can't buy all the stuff in the cart until you pay us back the full $680. We will need it as soon as possible."  
  
Francine sighed. "All right. What stuff will I have to return?"  
  
The cashier eyed the cart. "Your Sylvia Melika CD, 2 of the Class-93 Non-stick frying pans, that red full-length kimono..." He eyed the clothing in the cart. "And that bizarre dress of yours. I wish I knew how it got in this place to begin with."  
  
"You're better off not getting it," Aldonza said quietly, trying to soothe an enraged Fran. "Like Ambush Cat said, Curtis would probably kill you if he saw you in that."  
  
An angry Francine stared at Aldonza, fury overwhelming her emotions. However, just as she was about to clobber her, Aldonza snarled, "Fine. Punch me as hard as you can, then feel what a Tail Laser Blast is like."  
  
The Pizza Cat continued to look at her, mad at the threat. "Why, you..."   
  
Almost immediately, Aldonza regretted that mistake. "Just calm down," she said as soothingly as she could under the circumstances. "If you would please release your anger on your bedroom pillows later, it'll be a whole lot better for everyone in the long run." She flinched noticeably. "That, and my body still hurts from my last 'claw-ful' chat with Curtis last night." She indicated her left shoulder, which had a large bandage on it. "I have more scars everywhere else on me, and they hurt like crazy. So, please: do me a favor and let me keep myself in one piece."  
  
Fran continued to pout. "Fine!" Paying for the stuff the cashier hadn't rejected, she pushed away the cart to put the stuff away.  
  
-----------------------  
  
Shana Cheese withdrew the credit card from the cash machine, a wild grin spread across her face. Using the codes Chaos Kitten had required, she had just gotten done stealing a heap of money out of Francine's personal account.  
  
That was all part of the plan, of course. If she kept on stealing money from the Cats' personal accounts, the Pizza Cats would have no more supplies to keep making pizzas and would have to go out of business. Also, there was a strange twist to this thievery. No food for the Pizza Cats meant what Chaos Kitten had wanted: a slow, deliberate self-destruction. And then, when Chaos got started draining the funds for the conditions of the Pizza Cat itself, there wouldn't be very much left in the way of utilities: no power, no water, nothing.  
  
The best part was that this whole thing would be blamed on Curtis Wildcat, if Vi continued her practice of jumping to conclusions.  
  
Leaving the room, Shana went to the elevator to report to Korbi the latest happenings with the Operation.  



	7. Hero on the Run

6: Hero on the Run  
  
  
He looked the way Big Al Dente had expected him to look; drowsy and irritable. For the first time, though, this didn't stop Al from dragging Curtis from his personal quarters towards the main room, where Princess Violet sat, waiting.  
  
"What's the case this time?" Curtis growled, rubbing his eyes.  
  
"Violet thinks you might know what's happening to the royal treasury," Al explained.  
  
"What was that?" Curtis said. He looked more awake, now. He loosed himself from Al's grip and continued walking himself. "What's going on?"  
  
"For the past few days, the assets in the royal treasury have been mysteriously disappearing," Al continued. "For some reason, Violet seems to think that you know what's happening."  
  
"I didn't know," Curtis said. "I haven't even been near the vault the whole time I've been in the city."  
  
"Tell that to Vi," Al said alarmingly. "She seems mad."  
  
"So tell me, what else is new?" Curtis said sarcastically. "I hope she's started to take those lessons." He pushed open the door to the main room....  
  
.....and Vi immediately started jumping all over him. "CURTIS, YOU THIEF!!!"  
  
Curtis activated his Rolling Shield, bumping the Princess back onto the pillow she had sat on. "Get off, and stay off," the cat hissed, the Rolling Shield fading away and his sword resuming its normal teal hue. "Now, what's this thing about me being a thief?"  
  
"This is the exact reason why I kicked Seymour Cheese out of the Council," Vi ranted, straightening. "He was robbing the treasury for his own personal desires! I didn't hire you to do the same thing!"  
  
"I have not been raiding the treasury," Curtis countered. "Matter of fact, I haven't even been near the place---"  
  
"Can you prove that?" Violet snapped.  
  
"Fre-do!" the Emperor added.  
  
Curtis didn't even skip a beat. "Of all the times I've been here at the Palace, you've seen me. All the other times, I've been at the Mansion. Just the last couple days, I've been investigating the wreckage back where I blasted that insane Kounn, which was why you didn't see me at that get-together a day or so ago."  
  
Vi didn't seem to take that story. As calm as she could, she said, "I don't believe that any farther than I can roll you up and throw you. I'm going to have to order an investigation into these occurences. Until those investigations are complete, I'm going to have to send you into exile."  
  
"Let me guess," Curtis said weakly. "Prisoner Island?"  
  
Vi nodded. "Prisoner Island."  
  
"Glad to hear that you've been becoming more honest and quiet," Curtis said calmly. "And I acknowledge the fact that you want to send me into exile. You know what my response to that is?"  
  
Vi shook her head. "I'm clueless. What?"  
  
So what else is new? Al thought, deciding to keep it to himself.  
  
It was a good thing he did.   
  
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!!"  
  
Vi immediately jumped on the offensive. "Listen, you stupid cat, I'm going to send you to Prisoner Island whether you like it or not!"  
  
"Excuse me, your highness," piped up a Council member, "but don't you think that's a little bit too harsh?"  
  
"There's never such a thing as being too harsh," Vi said, turning to him.  
  
"Riiiight," Curtis hissed, his voice once again sarcastic. "Who is this, really?"  
  
"Shut up!" Vi screeched.   
  
"YOU shut up," Curtis shot back. "If there's no such thing as being too harsh, maybe I should just tie your ears in a double-knot and feed you "3 Musketeers" until your blood pressure starts to skyrocket."  
  
Vi, starting to become a ticked-off rabbit, shouted at him, "Wildcat, you're trying my patience!"  
  
Curtis nodded, then frowned. "I don't mind if I do. You should come over and try mine sometime."  
  
That was it. Vi turned to the nearest guards and yelled the ever-famous cry: "TAKE HIM TO PRISONER ISLAND!!" The princess looked again at Wildcat. "How's that? That good enough for you?"  
  
Curtis clenched his fists in an overwhelming fury; and then, suddenly, calmed down. Glaring at the Princess, he let himself be dragged away. He unsheathed his sword, but didn't even bother to swing it at the guards, as Al thought he would do. Instead, getting the best grip on his sword as he could, he shot a laser beam at the crown on Vi's head, knocking it off. The rabbit seemed a bit perturbed, but other than that, he got no reaction; so he decided to fill up the blank air space. "If you're going to exile ME, then you don't even deserve to be a Princess! Mark my words, Your Royal Worship, I WILL be back!"  
  
After Curtis was gone, Al turned to Violet. She was just standing there, looking at the door with a strange look in her eyes. "Is everything okay, your Highness?"  
  
At first, Vi didn't answer, as she was staring at the door through which Curtis and 2 of her guards had left, with a look of realization on her face as Curtis's statements dawned on her. "Call me Highness-ness," she murmured. She left the crown where it had fallen and left the room. Al watched her leave, puzzled, then picked up the crown and followed her out. The Council dispersed seconds later, saying in unison, "It's not my fault!"  
  
--------------------  
  
Just my day. Curtis paced around the boat he was on, which was headed for the Island. I wake up after a long day the day before, and I wind up being kicked out of the city by a bratty piece of scum-stricken royalty. Pardon my language, kid, but you just haven't been yourself the last 24 hours.  
  
He turned and screamed in the direction of the city, "VIOLET!! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, WATCH THIS!!!"  
  
Several of the Council members appeared at the windows of the Palace, wondering who was shouting at them. Just LOOKING at the Council turned Curtis red. "I HATE IT WHEN THIS HAPPENS!!!" he yowled.   
  
And just like that, his high blood pressure combined with his high energy amount, and he exploded, just like Seymour Cheese before him.  
  
The explosion destroyed the boat and sent the pilot---as well as the guards----flying. And when the fireworks faded away, a sizzled Curtis found himself in the water, surrounded by pieces of the boat.  
  
This was quite a predicament. Then, the teenage calico got an idea. "I may not know how to swim," Curtis said to himself, "but I DO have some experience boogy-boarding!" He grabbed the largest piece and started paddling his way to the island, ignoring the freezing-cold water floating around his fur.  
  
--------------  
  
Frieda joined Princess Violet in her personal quarters that afternoon. Once again, snowflakes drifted through the air outside the window. "Sweetie, Big Al Dente informed me that there's something wrong with you. Would you mind telling me what it is?"  
  
Violet shook her head. "There's nothing to explain. You saw the way I acted after Curtis deemed me unworthy of being Princess of the city. It's kinda making me think that I should pass on the crown to someone else."  
  
Frieda sat down next to her and placed a hand on one shoulder. "Tell me everything," she said quietly.  
  
"It probably has something to do with those classes that my friend Carlos told me to take," Vi said. "After dealing with all this and developing some sense of sympathy, I kind of thought I overreacted in there. Maybe..." A thought occured to her. "....Maybe we should've actually checked to see who it was that's been raiding our account before making any snap decisions."  
  
"I know Curtis well enough that he's not smart enough to raid the bank," Frieda answered. "He's only a teenager. I even went to the bank earlier and asked the teller if Curtis had an account there, and he said no, and I determined that all the money he had was stored inside the Mansion."  
  
"Anyway, you know my thoughts, now. Should I really continue on---" Vi paused for a moment. "----being a Princess?"  
  
The Empress appeared shocked. "Absolutely! You have to keep on going until I think it's time for you to take over!"  
  
"Glad to hear your honest opinion," Vi said, accepting the one-word answer. She got up. "I think I'll go ask Al and my dad for their opinions." She walked out the door, Frieda close behind. "Where's Carlos?"  
  
"Back at the Mansion," Frieda said. "Why?"  
  
"Contact him," Vi replied. "As soon as I'm done talking to Al and my dad, I need to talk to HIM."  
  
"About being a Princess?" Frieda frowned at this request. "You already know what his answer is going to be."  
  
"It isn't that." Violet shook her head. "I need to talk to him as soon as I can.  
  
"I need to ask him if he wants to marry me. At the pace we are losing money, I don't have much time left to ask him."  
  
She continued walking down the hall, not even seeing the shocked expression on her mother's face.  
  
----------------  
  
Curtis looked around, gasping for breath. He had been paddling his way to Prisoner Island for the last couple hours, trying to satisfy Vi. However, due to the cold temperatures, his nearsightedness, and the darkening sky, he hadn't been making any progress....  
  
Then, after about 5 minutes, he saw it: the one island with lush, green jungles and strung with wildlife.  
  
The one island that had the gigantic skull mountain facing him.  
  
"That's one way of keeping my hopes up," he said, not really meaning it. Changing course ever so slightly, he put on an extra burst of speed-----  
  
And with what felt like a massive neural jolt, his back gave way, plunging him into darkness.......  
  
------------------------  
  
When Curtis awoke that night, it was pitch dark. He found himself in a small pagoda, a pair of white blankets draped over him. "Hey," he said aloud, pulling himself up, "what's happening---"  
  
A white jolt tore its way across his eyes, and Curtis gasped in pain, nearly screaming. Slowly falling back on the bed, he started to wonder what had happened. Had something hit him? Then, in a flash, it all came back to him. On his way over here, the injury that Quarter had dealt him months ago came out of remission and overwhelmed his healing metabolism, causing him to lose his grip on the board.  
  
But then, if he was left out in the middle of the water, what was he doing in here? He tried again to get up, this time slowly. That didn't work either.  
  
"It would be a good idea if you just stayed in bed for a little while," came a familiar voice.  
  
The shadowy form that appeared, however, Curtis couldn't recognize. "Who's that?"  
  
"You don't remember me? I'm Seymour Cheese." The figure himself stepped in the moonlight, making him visible at last.  
  
Curtis fell back against his bed, weakly. He didn't want to deal with an oversized rat, especially not at the state he was in. "Where am I?" he murmured, smoothing down the fur on his arm.  
  
Seymour seemed confused. "Prisoner Island."  
  
"It's a wonder why I'm not out at sea anymore," Curtis mused. "Why am I in HERE, of all places?" He noticed a small hamper on one side of the pagoda, which already contained a water-soaked towel. Next to a small heating vent hung his "Cats rule" T-shirt and purple flannel shirt, which were still very much drenched. A quick glance at his right side reminded him that Shape-Shifter had remained where it was.  
  
"Don't tell this to Princess Vi, but one of the people here had transformed part of the island into a beach resort," Seymour explained. "During the winter, it becomes closed down and everyone takes to the indoors. I built this little place when I first got here to keep myself warm. I. Beam saw you come in and asked me to make you comfortable. The house is only 50 meters from the beach---"  
  
"Good for you guys," Curtis interrupted, "but not good for me. I need to get back to Little Tokyo."  
  
"With sunshine like the sunshine we get in the summer, who'd stay in Little Tokyo?" was Seymour's retort. "At least, that's what this I. Beam clown told me."  
  
"Me," Curtis countered. "All of my friends live in the city, excluding Princess Violet, who had me sent here to begin with."  
  
"Now, why'd she do a thing like that?" Seymour asked.  
  
"She accused me of stealing from the treasury," Curtis hissed. "I know someone else did it. I just can't prove it."  
  
Seymour chuckled. "She probably mistook you for me. She must have gotten hysterical when she found out I raided her piggy bank. Oh, well, times have passed."  
  
Curtis laughed a little, as well. Had Seymour changed since his last defeat? He reminded himself to ask him about it later. "Yeah, that was my first thought. Thing is, though, I still need to think of a way to get back home."  
  
"Well, what do you expect me to do about it?" asked the Big Cheese. "The only thing I'm good for around here now is comedy relief. And everyone saw you float over here, so don't think escaping unnoticed is going to help. You're a hot item, especially since you defeated Quarter at the missile silo, and everyone here are fans of yours! 19 people have already asked me if I could get you to sign autographs."  
  
Autographs....what do they think I am, some trapeze artist or athlete? I may have been the mastermind behind Quarter's undoing, but I'm no superstar. Just then, an idea popped into Curtis's head. "Maybe later; I have to ask you something, first. You've reconnected with the Ninja Crows here, right?"  
  
Seymour nodded his head. "Yes. What do you want them to do?"  
  
"Come morning, I'll need the Crows to create a small diversion on the resort side, where all the good houses are. That should create enough of an opening for me to escape into lightspeed before anyone spots me."  
  
For a moment, the Big Cheese stood, thinking about the idea. "Sure, I'll help you out, but I'll need to ask you a favor, first."  
  
"I'm listening," Curtis said, his expression neutral.  
  
"I need you to keep your mouth quiet regarding the truth about this island. If even a word of this gets out into the populace, Violet will hear about it eventually and jump down my throat again."  
  
"And she won't let ME live it down, either," Curtis said. "Sure." He winced at a sudden back spasm. "In the meantime, wake me up before you send out the Crows. I want to be ready."  
  
"Fine, then," said Seymour, slowly walking away. "I'll be waking you up in about 7 hours."  
  
Slowly resuming a resting position, Curtis pulled the covers over his head and tried---desperately---to get some sleep.  
  
-------------------  
  
There was a group of them scattered around the shoreline, but I. Beam recognized them immediately. They were the Ninja Crows from the Flying Skull clan, and they seemed to having a flying circus show outside.  
  
Signalling for the rest of the exiles to join him, Beam raced on out to watch the show. During one of the acts, the whole crowd burst into appplause, ignoring the somewhat chilly weather.  
  
In the commotion, none of them noticed the white streak flitting through the atmosphere before it disappeared into nothingness.  
  
-------------------  
  
There was no one home when Curtis arrived. The Pizza Cat looked just as empty as it had been for the last several hours. Good enough for me, he thought. He dashed up the stairs into the living area, finding a suitable hiding place in the bathtub.  
  
As he sat there, bored, he thought he could sense something in the air. That, and he also thought he could hear a slight electronics noise; a beeping noise coming from the downstairs computer. Climbing back out of the tub, he walked quietly but quickly back downstairs to investigate.  
  
Strings of data were flowing their way down the computer.  
  
SECURITY ALERT  
THEFT OVERRIDE SEQUENCE OVERRIDDEN  
  
$3000 STOLEN FROM PIZZA CAT UTILITY ACCOUNT  
PLEASE REPORT THEFT TO LITTLE TOKYO BANKING  
ACCOUNT NUMBER TRACED TO 140082  
  
"Looks like we know what's happening to the money. Of course, I've never heard of a computer doing THAT before." Curtis watched the computer shut down, then clenched his fists. He pushed open the door and, hiding himself among the populace, he made his way towards the palace.  
  
He had a score to settle with Violet.  



	8. Short Trip

7: Short Trip  
  
  
As it so happened, the royal family and the Council were having yet another daily meeting, this one to discuss the latest in the members' various departments.  
  
Violet sat on her pillow, staring at the floor and not saying a word. It was as if she wasn't even there---which made quite a difference in the mood of the meeting. It would certainly be a huge surprise to everyone if Curtis had just shown up, unannounced.  
  
And that was what he decided to do. Gripping his sword, he executed a Cat's Eye Slash. The first surprising part was that it destroyed the entire curtain he was hiding against and arrowed its way out an open window. The second surprise was that only Speedy and the rest of his family were supposed to pull it off, if the rumors were correct.  
  
The third surprising part was that Violet wasn't upset about it. Waiting for the murmurs from the Council to die down, she slowly turned her head. "Curtis," she said quietly. "You should never have come back."  
  
"Oh? And why not?" Curtis put his sword away and folded his arms. "I tried to tell you that I would eventually return."  
  
Her words came out in a whisper. "Because I was just about to have you executed for thievery and treason, anyway."  
  
Curtis almost burst out laughing. "In that case---"...he paused for a moment to hold back another laugh.... "----you leave me no choice but to turn to my most powerful weapon."  
  
He turned in the direction of the door. It opened, showing two medium-sized tabby cats wearing standard business attire. They looked like Abyssinians, but they had longer hair, marking them as Somali-breed felines. They had been conversing with each other regarding a contract with a large computer-making company; but as the door opened and the Council got their first good look them, the two turned to face the group and nodded politely.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," Curtis said with a wide grin, "meet Slam and Slom Somali.  
  
"Two very talented and very intelligent consultants."  
  
A Council member turned towards Big Al. "This cat's obviously a crackpot!"  
  
"I don't have anything to add to that," said one of the two cats, jarring the group into outright laughter. Vi, who was watching the exchange, seemed amused.  
  
Curtis, however, wasn't. He just turned his head toward the ground and sat down, straightening the sword sheath as he did so. "Why did I even bother?" he whined to himself.  
  
-------------------------  
  
"Well, I had to return everything but my package of pencils," a fuming Speedy Cerviche explained to GB as they walked back to the pizza parlor.  
  
"Same with me," GB snarled, "except I had to return a shopping tag that was on the floor."  
  
After going around town for a bit, the boys had joined up with the girls outside the department store, where they had tried to solve the mystery of their missing money; all of them were in a bad mood. As a result, everyone looked like they were about ready to bite metal; however, they got even angrier when they opened the door.  
  
There was no sign whatsoever of the tables, or the chairs that used to be there. The whole counter had been uplifted, and both cash registers had been broken. In short, there was nothing but tiled floor, walls, windows, and doors.  
  
"WHAT IN THE WORLD HAPPENED HERE!??" Francine screamed. Stressed out, she started running around what was left of the parlor, screeching all the way.  
  
"What that lady needs is a volume control," Speedy yelled to Guido over the racket.  
  
"No, what she needs is a tranquilizer dart!" Guido shouted back, pointing at the computer screen. "LOOK!"  
  
Everyone gathered around the computer screen, and stared in shock at the display.  
  
I'M SORRY, PIZZA CATS, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS SEEM TO HAVE TERMINATED. ALL MONEY FOR UTILITIES, SUPPLIES, AND OVERALL PERSONAL LIVES HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED. TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK, PLEASE RETURN TO LITTLE TOKYO BANKING AND INTEREST TO RESTORE YOUR ACCOUNTS. YOURS TRULY, MU 2.  
  
"We can't do that," exclaimed Polly. "The bank is closed today!"  
  
Two more words scrolled up the screen, startling her. NO KIDDING, it read. More text followed. You FIGURE SOMETHING OUT. I'M A SUPERCOMPUTER, NOT AN ATM MACHINE.  
  
"In the words of Luke Skywalker, 'I have a bad feeling about this'," GB muttered. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, except for Francine, who was still running around. Finally, she stopped running, grabbed Polly, and started crying into one shoulder.  
  
--------------  
  
"As you can see," said Slam Somali, "it is highly illogical for Curtis to have stolen the funding for the Palace."  
  
"Also, all sources and evidence points in one direction: the former hideout of the Animal Legion of Doom," explained Slam's brother, Slom.  
  
"And if you make the decision to execute Curtis R. Wildcat, you will be throwing away the best hope of turning aside this threat," Slam finished.  
  
Both of them were experienced consultants and lawyers, despite being only in their early twenties. When they graduated from high school, they decided to model their lives after the famous comic strip character, Dogbert, and become smart-alek consultants.  
  
And they were certainly doing a good job of it.  
  
A rhino in the Council, who looked remarkably like Rocksteady, whispered to the guy next to him. "Man, dis guy's good."  
  
"All right," Violet said, making a snap decision. "Curtis is pardoned. Now, I need to ask for a volunteer to investigate. We need to find out IMMEDIATELY if someone is still using the old hideout. Who cares to find out?"  
  
"Someone is," Curtis growled. "My female friend Aldonza Karate did a little scouting report, and she found out that Chaos Kitten and Felonia Jase are still hanging around the old place. And from the looks of things, they WERE using that computer to steal our money."   
  
"All right," Violet reported. "Our mystery is solved, then. If no one has any new business, the meeting's adjourned. We'll go over your duties later when we have time."  
  
The Council members, one by one, dispersed to their regular offices and quarters, followed seconds later by Slam and Slom Somali. Last to leave were Emperor Fred and Empress Frieda, leaving Princess Vi and Curtis in the main room alone.  
  
Violet could already sense that something was wrong with Curtis by the way he was shivering. "Anything I can do?" she asked flat-out.  
  
"Yeah," Curtis said. The voice came out choked, the sound of one fighting back tears. "Could you come over here for a second?" He yanked the sword sheath off his belt and flung it to the floor, the other paw wiping furiously at his eyes.  
  
There's DEFINITELY something wrong with him, Violet thought. Otherwise, he wouldn't be throwing one of his prized possesions on the floor like some piece of trash. She stepped over to him. "Yes? What is it?"  
  
Curtis suddenly grabbed her and started sobbing into one shoulder. Needless to say, this took Vi completely by surprise. "Um....anything I can do?...Curtis...?"  
  
"Just so you know I DO have a heart," the teenage cat said, sobbing. The tears continued to fall. "One of my old friends was torn away from me by the A.L.D. Every now and then, thoughts of her pop into my head, and I'm afraid I'll never see her again. This is why I have to defeat Chaos and his cousin AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to keep my life from splitting in half. The shock of having lost her still overwhelms me at times."  
  
"Sounds like you're already being torn in two," Vi said calmly. Either this guy means it, or he's a total fruitcake. "What is it you want me to do?"  
  
"There's a chance that I won't survive the upcoming battle against Chaos," Curtis said, choking down the last of his tears. "There's a certain something I want to offer you, so you can remember me as the one who succeeded where everyone else failed, and to at least try to hold off Chaos yourself."   



	9. Moon Rabbit Flies Sky-High

8: Moon Rabbit Flies Sky-High  
  
  
Curtis went down on one knee and picked up the sword, releasing his grip on Vi. He hadn't been that emotional since.....he didn't know when.  
  
He, however, had to clear his mind of all other thoughts NOW so that he could offer Vi a little gift to keep his power alive. Slowly but surely, he threw all thoughts of Shila from his mind and started concentrating.  
  
For a moment, Shape-Shifter started glowing a deep purple. Then, without warning, something dropped to the floor from the ceiling, causing a loud clatter. Curtis opened his eyes, stopped concentrating, picked it up, and gave it to the Princess.  
  
"What is it?" she asked, gripping the sword. For a moment, she tested it out, then put it inside a sheath that had mysteriously appeared, as well.  
  
"I called upon all the power encased in this sword to release an exact duplicate from the mysterious somewhere that it was created. Neither I nor anyone else I knew that made this sword; it was a little something I got from one of the alien races I fought against years ago. These swords are rare, but they can be found."  
  
Violet apparently didn't understand. "But what do you want me to have THIS for?"  
  
Curtis took a deep breath. "Because you've earned it. You're starting to develop the behavior of a TRUE ruler of the city. You've gotten a lot smarter since I first arrived in town. Not only that, but you're starting to care more and more about the people under your rule. You didn't even get mad when I showed up unexpectedly earlier."  
  
He looked in her eyes. "Which goes to show that while you possess a lot of power outside of you, you also have a large reserve inside of you."  
  
"Those classes that I've been taking have had an influence on me," replied Vi. "I admit it. For the first time...I've been starting to comtemplate the results of my own actions. I shouldn't have been so trigger-happy when it came to exiling everyone in sight. As far as I'm concerned, the people of Prisoner Island can return at any time, with the exception of the Big Cheese. HE deserved it."  
  
Curtis gulped. She probably wasn't going to like this, but he still had to say it. "See, that's another thing I thought I'd mention. Prisoner Island isn't what it is, anymore."  
  
"You mean it's not a place for exiles to spend the last few years of their life?" Surprisingly, she wasn't even ticked.  
  
"I promised Seymour I wouldn't tell anyone....you remember I. Beam, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, I remember him."  
  
"Here's the thing, Vi," Curtis explained slowly. "Not long after he got there, he turned half the island into a beach resort."  
  
"Oh. Well, in that case, they can stay there, then. I'll just think of something else to do with the people that violate my orders numerous times. Taking the prisoners away from a paradise would be an even worse punishment."  
  
"And just in case you're wondering, Cheese plans on staying anyway."  
  
"Just as well. Cheese isn't going to cut itself---" Vi paused for a moment to hold back a sharp laugh.  
  
Carlos Cosmos walked inside just then. "You called for me, Highness?"  
  
Vi slowly turned around to face Carlos. Her eyes looked hopeful, and Carlos couldn't discern any request behind them, at first.  
  
Finally, she spoke. "Yes, I was kind of hoping...." Vi hesitated for a moment, then said, "Carlos, would you be able to marry me?"  
  
Curtis's mouth fell open, and his eyes widened in total shock.  
  
Carlos paused for a moment, surprised, then chuckled. "To be honest, Princess, I was just about to ask you the same thing. See, I haven't had a lot to do, even with my duties as starfighter commander. I figure having a couple of kids and a wife would do me some good." He paused for a moment. "I'm of legal age, in case that's what you're wondering---"  
  
"No, don't worry about it," Vi interrupted. A broad smile appeared on her face. "I just can't think of a time I've been happier!"  
  
"Tell that to Teasy Melika," Curtis laughed, shaking away his shock. "He got ticked off when he found out Polly and Speedy were going to have kids. He almost hit the roof!" He turned serious. "I have the feeling, Carlos, that Chaos Kitten and Felonia Jase are planning a massive attack. I need you to have your squadron ready in case anything comes up."  
  
"I have the distinct feeling, Admiral, that having Cosmos Squadron ready is not going to be a problem," said Carlos quietly. There was a slight edge in his voice; one that neither Curtis or Vi had heard before. "Keep ready, indeed."  
  
---------------  
  
Shana grinned mirthfully as she withdrew her card one more time. As it was, she had taken the last of Francine's money, while Chaos Kitten had been stealing the money from the Pizza Cats in general, as well as that of the Palace. Now, all the stolen goods would go straight into Korbi's plot to overwhelm the United States by force. The money Chaos had taken would turn the drones and artillery into impressive war machines.  
  
The destruction of the Pizza Cats had begun. And with it, the destruction of the rest of the world.  
  
Clenching the card in one hand, she pushed open the door. Whatever Korbi's reaction to all this was, she wanted to be around to see it.  



	10. Who's Got the Power?

9: Who's Got the Power?  
  
  
For a long while, the Pizza Cats just stood at the computer; they continued standing, even when all the words had disappeared. "I just don't get it," Guido protested. "How could ALL of our funding just plain DISAPPEAR?"  
  
"I don't like this," Speedy muttered. "I don't like this at all."  
  
"And, for that matter, neither does Francine," Guido pointed out. Their young boss was still holding on to Polly, crying for all she was worth.  
  
Apparently, she had used to think she was worth a lot. In their eyes, at least, not anymore.   
  
"I'm going to try to call Lucille," Polly said, letting go of Francine. She straightened her shoulders, which Fran had been holding on to for the last few minutes. "Maybe she and Wally can help us out a little."  
  
"Fat chance of that happening," said Aldonza. "I've already tried to contact her, but the phone line's been disconnected by an outside source." Her tail twitched nervously; that was quite a feat, considering how long it was.  
  
"Great. Just great," Speedy hissed. "First, we can't purchase everything we needed to get. THEN the phone line is off the hook..."  
  
Don't say it! Guido screamed mentally at him. Don't say it!  
  
"What else could go wrong?"  
  
And then, as if in answer to Speedy's question, there was a brief crackling noise, followed by another hiss as the computer monitor turned itself off----and in the space of a few minutes, all the electricity burned itself out. "You said it," Guido said into the semi-darkness, shaking his head.  
  
"First things first!" Speedy snapped, jolting everyone to attention. "Grab all the food and put it all in the icebox before the food spoils!"  
  
Aldonza followed that command, dashing downstairs and dragging up the 6 iceboxes they had in case of a power outage, one by one. The bottom layer of each one was already covered with ice. For the next 20 minutes, everyone took turns passing the food out of the refrigerator and into the boxes.  
  
"It'll give us a hard time if we ever need to get those cans open," said GB, wiping off perspiration, "but at least the food will be preserved. Now what?"  
  
"Francine, Polly," Speedy hissed, turning to them, "Do we still have those containers of water from the Y2K 'crisis'?"  
  
"Let me check," Polly answered, rushing downstairs. An affirmative shout from downstairs confirmed Speedy's hopes that there was still water left to drink. She came back up. "NOW what?"  
  
Speedy shook his head. "I've absolutely no idea."  
  
"Perhaps we could be of assistance," a voice cracked from above them. From the ceiling, a pair of ceiling tiles fell, followed by 4 shadowy forms---  
  
Aldonza jumped back a foot, barely keeping her paws from being smashed. "IT'S THE RUDE NOISE!!" she shrieked. And, with that, she scampered away to hide.  
  
----------------------  
  
GB was puzzled, and turned to Speedy. "What's to be afraid of? The Rude Noise are helping us, aren't they?"  
  
"Both in direct and indirect ways," said the brash voice of Crow-Magnon, whose real name was Bad Max. "We had just been finishing a concert over in Oregon when we heard rumors of a huge power outage occuring over here, so we hitched a ride on a passing jet. This parlor was just one of the last buildings to be hit in a span of 4 hours."  
  
"Well, what do you plan on doing about it?" snapped Francine.  
  
"Calm down, Miss Manx," Ronnie interrupted. "What exactly we found is that the Animal Legion of Doom is still alive."  
  
The expressions on most of their faces were, in fact, quite amusing. Speedy, though, was the only one that wasn't surprised. "Really," he said coldly. "If Quarter and the others were defeated, then who's plotting against us?"  
  
"It turns out that you missed one," continued Crow-Magnon. "According to some papers we found, close to two months ago there was an incident at the supermarket. Your pals the New Yorkers stunned a small tabby cat into unconsciousness. According to his I.D. card, he was identified as Chaos Kitten. He worked as a spy for Quarter."  
  
"A small-town spy," Guido snapped. "No wonder we had nothing to prove his existence!"  
  
"Yeah, no kidding," said Mojo. "And he also has his renegade cousin working with him."  
  
"Enough about us," said Cannonball. "We can survive fine. Question is, how are YOU guys going to survive the next few weeks?"  
  
"We'll think of something," Speedy said. However, he wasn't feeling very confident when he uttered those words.  
  
Crow-Magnon raised an eyebrow. "Let's hope so. Because without you Cats around, life's pretty boring. Even with heavy-metal, and all...."  
  
"We get the drift, thanks," GB interjected. "We'll take it from here." The mysterious twinkle appeared in his eye momentarily.  
  
"Right!" the Rude Noise said in unison. With that, they disappeared from sight, rising up through the ceiling tiles they were hiding above earlier.  
  
------------------  
  
THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING LITTLE TOKYO ONLINE BANKING. GOOD DAY.  
  
Chaos Kitten shut down the program for the final time that afternoon. Felonia Jace stood over his shoulder. "So, that the last of the money?" she asked.  
  
"You got it, cousin," Chaos Kitten said, a bit excited. After all this time, all the money from Little Tokyo and the Samurai Pizza Cats had been drained. "Now we have to send word to Korbi over in New York that we're going to have to move, soon."  
  
Felonia frowned at that---an expression not uncommon with his cousin. She often frowned if she thought there was something wrong. "What's on your mind, Felonia?"  
  
Felonia seemed to tremble a little. "All I can say, Chaos, is that I have a bad feeling about this."  
  
Chaos scoffed. "Oh, c'mon....you're letting your worries run away with you. Once we have our attack squadron built up, we can overrun the city. There's NOTHING to worry about!"  
  
"I wish I was as confident as you," Felonia whispered. "So, we're leaving?"  
  
"We're leaving." Chaos pushed in his chair and shut down the main computer, followed seconds later by the generator that powered everything except the elevator that led up to the surface. "Now, let's get to my bunker over outside the island. That's where all the money is now. We need to get our military force built up, and I also have a special robot planned especially for the assault."  
  
Felonia grinned. "Special robot? Like the old Gorgonzola robots of old?"  
  
Chaos frowned at that, and for a moment, Felonia thought that she had done something to insult him. The frown faded away a second later, though, and the yellow tabby slowly let out her breath, relieved, as her cousin turned his head to look at her. "Not exactly. The robot's armor is stronger than even the original Ninja Crowbot." He paused. "I'd say about 21 times stronger, certainly strong enough to deflect a combined blast from their special Ginzu attacks. The guy who made the armor didn't tell me a lot about it, but Quarter told me when I first joined that his word was generally reliable."  
  
"Neat." As they walked into the elevator and started back up to the surface, Felonia took the oppurtunity to stretch her muscles.  
  
Chaos looked at her. "Something wrong, cuz?"  
  
Felonia shook her head. "Nothing. My muscles are just a little sore, that's all."  
  
"You know, you didn't have to help me carry that stuff to the bunker," Chaos said quietly. "I was capable of handling it myself."  
  
"True, but you wouldn't have got it done any faster," Felonia said in reply.  
  
Chaos Kitten nodded. "Good point."  
  
At this point, the elevator door opened. They walked out into the short hallway, and there Chaos excessed the computer for one last time, to see if anyone was wandering the place where the trapdoor was located. There was no one around, though, so Chaos turned off the computer, walked up the short flight of steps, then pushed open the trapdoor and out into the snow-covered field towards destiny.  
  
------------------------------------------  
  
Out in Manhattan, Korbi felt a rush of excitement. All the funds in the United States Treasury were now in his possession, and now he could finally submit the command to create all the robots and machinery on his list in preparation for the grand fight. He grabbed the document and headed out into a hallways at a brisk walk, stopping when he noticed the commander of his drone army.  
  
The commander saluted him. "Yes, Major Korbi?"  
  
Korbi handed him the document. "Take this document to Shana, and make sure she gets down to the robot factory," he said. Frowning, he added, "and for the last time, it's MAYOR Korbi."  
  
The commander nodded his head. "My apologies, sir." Immediately, he turned on his heels and headed for the elevator.  
  
Korbi headed back into his office and stared out at the city. The citizens of the city had grown restless and tired of hearing about the money he was taking and the forces he was building up, but with his army in the streets and throughout Manhattan Island, there was no way anyone could stop him now.  
  
He stared out at the sky as a thought occured to him. Was Chaos Kitten all set to go? If he wasn't, and Korbi started attacking at the wrong time, all the plans would be for nought. Korbi's attack needed to get the world's attention, so that Chaos could take Little Tokyo unchallenged.  
  
Making his decision, he headed back to the office and turned on his computer. Activating his video phone, he decided to call up Chaos Kitten and see how it was going.  
  
He received an answer almost immediately. "I was just about ready to call you myself," said Chaos. "It's time to get your forces ready for continental takeover."  
  
"Got it." Closing the communication, he dialed up his factory overseer. Taking a deep breath, still thinking about his continental takeover, he spoke. "This is Korbi. You may begin production of the attack squadrons."  



	11. Eat Until Your Heart's Content

10: Eat Until Your Heart's Content  
  
  
Polly sat the package of turkey meat on the counter, and sliced it open with her claws. "Okay, this is the last package of meat. Let's see how long we can make this last."  
  
It had been a number of weeks since the power had gone out of the pizza parlor, with absolutely no sign of letting up. At the same time, they had abruptly lost all their money mysteriously, leaving them without any source of income. That meant, of course, that they had to ration out all the food wisely without taking any risks. Eventually though, they would have to succomb to the fact that they would eventually run out. And then WHAT would happen?  
  
Polly looked at the individual members of the team: Speedy, Guido, herself, Francine, and GB. GB was the only one who was better off, still having several packages of bird food in the cellar of his home. Everyone else seemed gaunt and tired as their energy began fading slowly.  
  
Polly held up a few slices of meat, then sliced at it, cutting them into 4 pieces. One by one, the 4 members of the team ate their shares of food, while GB just went on nibbling away at his share of birdseed.  
  
At that moment, Curtis pushed open the doors and strolled on in. Regardless of all the problems overwhelming the city, the calico still seemed as happy as he ever would be. "Having a good day, Curtis?" Speedy said to him.  
  
Curtis smiled. "I just had a slice of lemon merinque pie, and I also just beat the Rescue Team at 'Risk.'"  
  
Guido spoke up. "Curtis, listen to me. While we're all here starving, you're just as fat and overjoyed as ever. You're also seemingly ignoring the fact that the city's without power. What's your secret?"  
  
Curtis chuckled quietly. "Quite simple, Guido. We get our food from the spaceship fleet during power outages, and the Mansion's powered by cold fusion. It's a little something I came up with back when one of the Cheese crime family members was able to cut the supply to the Mansion's plasma power back in the United States."  
  
"So what was his plan?" GB asked. "To cut the power, and then attack with all your defenses down?"  
  
"Pretty much," Curtis said. "He planned to cut off our plasma power by wrecking our underground power plant. Once he did that, he brought in at least a couple hundred tanks to do battle with us. That was Big Mistake #1, since we were able to dodge the firepower. Big Mistake #2 was when we activated our cold fusion power plant. The result was that the defenses on the roof made short work of what he had left."  
  
"None of that is going to help us out of our little 'problem'," Francine growled. "We are just about out of food, and we have no money left to buy anything. How are we supposed to go on like this?"  
  
"Simple," Curtis said, his voice deadly. "You won't."  
  
Everyone turned towards him. "Huh?"  
  
"About 4 days after the power outage began, I turned Aldonza Karate and her friend Zapana Zquor loose on the problem. They reported that Chaos Kitten and Felonia Jase were the ones that have stolen the money from Little Tokyo. The agent that I had Jerry Atrick station over in Manhattan also reported that members of the Cheese crime family had swiped all the money in Francine's account, including the sales from the Garlic Jr. pizza turnout." Curtis's voice was filled with contempt by the time he reached the words "Cheese crime family." He continued on. "I called the fleet up in orbit right before I went to play 'Risk'. As soon as they're able, they'll get some of Earth's food from the S.I.D. storage containers and send them down to Little Tokyo."  
  
"That's a relief," Polly said quietly. "Because of the way we've been rationing our food, I haven't been feeling too well."  
  
"Yeah," Speedy moaned. "Same here."  
  
"One word, four syllables: 'malnutrition'," Curtis hissed. "I see what Chaos is planning. He's planning on giving you a slow death so that you'll be too weak to interfere when he takes charge. That's why he's stealing the money from the city: to weaken the citizens and the Royal Infrastructure. And the only way he'll give the food back is if he's elected ruler of the city."  
  
"Why, that miserable, no-good, slimy piece of----" Francine was about to say something else, but caught herself on Curtis's famous "don't-you-dare-I've-got-you-covered" look. Instead, she interjected: "----slime!"  
  
"We certainly can't let him take over," said GB. "We can't wait until then to overthrow him. As soon as we get all our strength back, we'll have to join up and defeat him."  
  
"That reminds me," Polly said. "Have there been any news from the Rude Noise?"  
  
"Yes," Curtis said. "Cannonball spotted a large variety of fighting robots and tanks over outside the island that Little Tokyo is located on two days ago. They're just about ready to go, but they haven't made a move yet. Crow-Magnon seems to think that they're waiting for the signal, so he has the Ninja Crowbot ready just in case they do receive it."  
  
"Must be waiting for us to weaken," Guido said, his tone sour. "Then, when we don't have any strength to fight, clobber us on the blindside."  
  
"Yeah, that seems to be Chaos's plan of action." Curtis paused for a moment. "I just hope that----"  
  
And at this moment, for Polly, everything went dark as she fainted dead away.  
  
----------------------------------  
  
"Oh, no," Speedy groaned. He ran up to Polly and shook her violently, trying to wake her up. When she didn't respond, Francine bent down to see if Polly still had a pulse.  
  
"Yes, Virginia, we ARE falling apart," Curtis growled, trembling with inward fury. The part of the rebuilt counter that was in his hand shattered into dust; the material he had managed to locate wasn't as strong as he had hoped.  
  
"She's still alive," Francine reported as she got up from the floor. "But she'll most likely die soon if we ALL don't get ourselves something to eat, and FAST."  
  
"Blast," Curtis hissed. Angrily, he pulled out his communicator and switched it on. "Grand Admiral Curtis Wildcat calling Administrator Gamma Cat on the S.I.D. Hexagon Ship CYCLONE. How much longer is that next shuttle down to Little Tokyo going to be?"  
  
"About another 20 minutes, Wildcat," a low-pitched voice growled back. "The shuttle that was supposed to deliver the food broke down, so we're transporting it in one of our other shuttles."  
  
"We don't have 20 minutes, Gamma Cat," Curtis snarled. "We need to HURRY. Try to quicken your pace a little bit. As in NOW."  
  
Short pause. "Understood, sir," said Gamma Cat before the communicator clicked off.  
  
Curtis put his own communicator away, rumbling away under his breath. "My administrator is reliable, but he CAN get a little lax at times."  
  
"I hope he hurries, too," Speedy said quietly. "Polly's the only one I have. She's the only one who comforts me when times get rough. I'm the only one who comforts HER effectively when times are bad."  
  
"Yeah, tell me about it," Curtis growled again. "Back when Shila was a Super-Cat, she always managed to calm me down, no matter HOW mad I was. Now? There's nothing to keep me under control if I become enraged."  
  
Just then, there was a knock at the door. "Let me see who that is," he said. He slowly opened the door....  
  
.....And there was Guru Lou's capable assistant, Atom Cat. He was holding a pan of freshly cooked lasagna in his hands. "Anyone here hungry?"  
  
Curtis's eyes widened at the sight of the lasagna, and he would've eaten the whole thing himself hadn't Guido walked over and taken the pan in his hands. "My dream has been realized," he managed to say.  
  
GB shook off the arrival of the extra food. "That's it? We'll need a LOT more than that."  
  
"Oh, don't worry," Atom Cat said, grinning. "I'm not alone."  
  
He stepped into the parlor; and several other figures entered behind him: Lucille, Carla, Big Al Dente, the Flying Skull Master Jerry Atrick, and even Guido's old friend Ruby. Each of them were carrying something meant to be eaten.  
  
At this time, EVERYONES eyes widened. "Look at the SIGHT of all that!" Speedy said excitedly....but then his voice trailed off when he remembered Polly. He spoke quietly to them all. "Lucille, Al, everyone, thank you. If we can get Polly awake, though, then some of that will have to go to her."  
  
Atom Cat stepped forward, setting the food on the counter. "No problem."  
  
----------------------  
  
Polly surged back into reality, shaking her head wildly. Her eyes focused on Atom Cat, who stood next to her with an empty bucket in his paws. "Ah, 'tis Sleeping Beauty!" the young cat cracked.  
  
Angrily, Polly sprang up off the floor and decked Atom Cat across the face, knocking him clear across the parlor. "Never, ever, EVER do that again!" She grabbed a dishrag off the nearby sink and started wiping off her face.  
  
"Polly, in case you're hungry, we have some stuff to eat out on the counter." Curtis could barely keep his mouth from watering at the sight of his favorite foods.  
  
"Oh, really? What do you have?" Polly said. "It's been quite a while since I've eaten anything GOOD."  
  
Curtis simply smiled.  
  
-------------  
  
"Here she comes," Atom Cat, peeking into the kitchen. He rubbed the side of his head where Polly had whacked him.  
  
"What exactly did you all bring, anyway?" Francine had to ask.  
  
"Guru Lou got me to cook up some lasagna and bring it over here," Atom Cat explained. "When I got here, I discovered that others had found out about the Pizza Cats' plight and decided to help them out."  
  
"How exactly did you cook, though?" Speedy said. "I mean, with the electricity off, and all?"  
  
"I wonder who came up with the idea of battery-charged microwaves in the first place," said Jerry.  
  
Atom Cat tapped the counter with a claw. "Guru Lou."  
  
"Oh. That explains it." Speedy sat down in one of the chairs scattered around.  
  
Atom Cat continued. "Lucille brought a batch of her best brownies. Carla whipped up a batch of mixed vegetables over a fire..."  
  
"That explains the smoke I saw coming from the back of the house earlier," GB mumbled as Polly walked on into the serving area.  
  
".....Big Al brought some of his Italian meatballs, Jerry cooked up some Spanish rice and some tacos, and Ruby made some mashed potatos and green beans."  
  
"Just like my grandmother used to make," Curtis said as he joined Polly and the others.  
  
"Your grandmother made that stuff?" asked Jerry.  
  
Curtis nodded his head and smiled. "Yes." He then shook his head to clear the thought out of his mind, and settled down to eat a few bites. At least they would survive until after the fleet finally brought the food down to the surface.  
  
And when they did, he promised himself angrily, then the fur was going to fly.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted as Ruby walked up to him. "You don't mind if I have something to eat too, do you?"  
  
"Go on ahead," Curtis snarled, still halfway buried in his thoughts. "Just don't mistake my tail for a hot dog."  
  
"No need to worry," Ruby said, holding up a pair of glasses. "I have these with me this time."  
  
Curtis raised an eyebrow, then started chowing down---for real.  
  



	12. City Under Siege

11: City Under Siege  
  
  
Felonia Jase stared at Chaos Kitten as they stood in front of their bunker, extremely nervous. After all, this wasn't any minor raid. After all the preparations and waiting had been completed, Chaos's plan for global control was about to be launched.  
  
However, if Chaos was feeling nervous, he was certainly keeping it to himself. "The 185 Sub-Land Artillery units will attack from the south and southeast. The 30 armored Land Bombers will attack from the southwest. The 25 Mine Laying cycles and the 120 Arclite Siege Tanks will attack from the west and northwest. The 6 Armored Land-Air Eggs will attack from the north and northeast. I'll take the Vile-class Armored Goliath and 5 Stealth Tanks and attack from the east."  
  
"What about me, Chaos?" Felonia asked. "What do I do?"  
  
Chaos thought about that for a moment. "Let me think about that for a moment...." He then raised a claw as an idea struck him. "Now I know what the backseat cockpit is good for. I need you to stay in there and shoot at any targets that come from the air. The Vile Goliath doesn't have a lot of air defenses, so I'm counting on you to get whatever airpower they have off my back."  
  
"I suppose that's as good a role as any," Felonia said, smiling. "How much longer do we have until we start the attack?"  
  
Chaos reached over his shoulder and flicked a few knobs and levers. "We don't need to bother with anything as dramatic as a countdown. We shall commence NOW!" He tapped a silver-colored button.  
  
--------------------------  
  
At first, the rumbling was distant, like the thunder before the storm. Chico Melika, taking a short snooze on his bed, deep inside the Rad-Cats' home, had originally paid it no heed. He merely turned over in his sleep, muttering.  
  
Then, a set of loud explosions jolted him awake. Nearly stumbling over something, he hurried on over to the window.....  
  
....and the sight of the oncoming force nearly gave him a stroke.  
  
Over in the distance, like some scene from Starcraft or one of his worst nightmares, were a set of Siege Tanks, currently blasting away at the scenery.  
  
He raced downstairs. The other Rad-Cats, plus Sylvia and Alice Melika, were flicking through the television, looking for something good to watch. "Guys, guys...." Chico started to say, but he kept on tripping over his words.  
  
"Speak up, bro!" said Runner, the muscle maniac. "What is it?"  
  
Chico nearly screamed out the words. "The city's under attack!" An explosion, closer than the last one, backed up his words with force.  
  
"Sound the alarm!" Teasy snapped. "Get Curtis and Big Al Dente on the line! Maybe we can stop those tanks before they burn this part of the city!"  
  
"No need to," Alice moaned, dread deep in her voice. The finger on the remote control had come to rest, and the news reporter was on the screen.  
  
"Commander in-Chief of the Little Tokyo military forces, Big Al Dente, has passed out with total shock as the city has fallen under attack on all fronts. Various types of vehicles have surrounded the city and are pummeling all the various buildings. Some are assumed dead or missing, and at least 45 are injured, including Francine Manx, the latest inductee of the Samurai Pizza Cats. Curtis, Al's lieutenant and commander of his own spaceship fleet, has already noticed the attack and is currently calling the Super-Cats to arms. The Empress is waking up Dente and is declining comments at this time---"  
  
Daniel's mouth fell open, and, with a rage that startled everyone, pierced the television screen clean through with his fist. A couple of sparks flew and the picture burned out, but nothing else happened. The young cat stood there for a few moments, regaining his breath.  
  
"Aw, brilliant, Daniel," Teasy moaned. "Now we'll have to pay for a new televison set!"  
  
"Let's worry about that later, guys," Daniel hissed. "Time to roll! We need to stop them before they hurt anyone else!" He paused, and his voice came out choked, as if he was almost ready to cry. "We need to stop them before they KILL anyone else!"  
  
As the Rad-Cats gathered their fighting gear and departed, Alice and Sylvia stared at each other. "Well?" Sylvia asked, pulling off the silver necklace she was wearing.  
  
Alice nodded her head, grabbed Sylvia's hand, and led her down the hall.  
  
None of them noticed anything, but a black shadow glided silently into the room as the lights faded away. He spoke, his tone thick with anger. "You can get the Rad-Cats on this job, Curtis, or even get the rest of the Super-Cats to handle the job. But one way or another, someone's going to pay for what was done to Francine."  
  



	13. Gone Downhill

13: Gone Downhill  
  
"Ok, guys, so here's the deal," explained Speedy to the others. They were all heading back to the Pizza Cat to take what was left of their belongings to the Palace for the time being. "As soon as we get everything to the Palace, we get out our armor and assist Little Tokyo with repulsing Chaos Kitten."  
  
"We're up against several hundred robots and machines, Speedy," Guido protested. "Little Tokyo's army is down to 82% manpower, but Chaos's group has only lost a bare few of its flock. How are WE going to destroy them by ourselves while we're down one member?"  
  
"And on top of all that, Curtis's Super-Cats have been having trouble making any progress on these things," GB added. He had joined the Pizza Cats on their third trip to the parlor.  
  
Speedy refused to listen to these arguments. "We're just going to have to do the best we can while we're shorthanded. It's either we fight for this city and die as winners, or we DON'T fight and we die as losers."  
  
Polly nodded her head. "Good point."  
  
"The best advice I've heard from Speedy in the past 6 months," Guido cracked. "Are you serious about this, or have you been on drugs recently?"  
  
Speedy just growled. "I'm serious about this, Guido. Are we in this together or not?"  
  
At this point everyone had arrived in front of the parlor. When they heard his statement, everyone turned and looked at Speedy.  
  
The Pizza Cat stood his ground. "Well?"  
  
Polly glanced at the others, then held her hand out in front of her. "I'm in."  
  
Speedy laid his to rest on top of hers. "Good. At least SOMEONE agrees with me."  
  
GB shrugged. "Oh, well. Might as well do it and save the trouble." His clawed hand appeared on top of the others' a second later.  
  
Everyone then turned to look at Guido. The blue-clothed Pizza Cat just chuckled and laid his hand on top of the rest, as well. "Sure. What kind of Pizza Cat would I be if I rejected teamwork?"  
  
After a few seconds, everyone released their grips and walked inside the parlor single file. "What's left?" asked Guido.  
  
"Just those 3 crates in the basement," said GB. "After we get these crates to the Palace, and we get to the root of the problem----"  
  
"Oh, no you won't," purred a sinister voice. "You won't even live to see the light of day as long as I'M living."  
  
A series of cracks, forming a square, burned onto the wall behind them. Everyone immediately sprung around. "Show yourself!" Speedy cried out, furious, as the others continued to stare in wonder at the wall.  
  
"What, so you can stop me?" the voice purred, snickering. "Not with any of the 9 lives that I have coming."  
  
Those were the last words that the 4 Pizza Cats heard before that section of the wall collapsed on top of them.  
  
------------  
  
4 Rad-Cats, already suited up for combat, waited inside the Mansion's Command Center. Teasy, Chico, and Runner were seated in several spare chairs, heads resting on paws, half-asleep. Daniel, the more nervous of the 4, was pacing the floor in front of Curtis's supercomputer.  
  
"What in the world is taking Curtis so long to call?" he asked aloud. "He knows that we don't like to be kept waiting."  
  
"I'm sure he has a perfectly good reason for it," said Teasy, a yawn escaping his lips. "He could still be at the hospital, or he could even be---"  
  
"Be what?" a voice interjected.  
  
The 4 Rad-Cats looked around in confusion; whoever had said that had obviously woken them up. "Where'd that voice come from?" Runner said into the thick silence.  
  
"From the monitor, you musclebound dummy," said another voice, this one female.  
  
Teasy and his brothers finally looked at the supercomputer's viewscreen. Arrayed on it, from left to right, were Abigail, Cosmo, DeeDee, and Sundance, the New York Pizza Cats. Each of them looked tense, upset, worried, or all 3 at once, like Abigail.  
  
"That bad, huh?" asked Chico, taking in the looks of the 4 NYPC.  
  
"And it's gotten worse, too," said Sundance. "Korbi's army has overwhelmed the entire eastern half of the United States. With each state he's conquered, he's managed to get a whole lot more materials for his robots and tanks, which means that he's DEFINITELY on a roll!"  
  
"And at the rate he's going, he could get coast to coast in less than a day!" DeeDee said, tapping a claw against the NYPC's monitor for emphasis.  
  
"Well, ol' Curtis isn't in at the moment," snapped Teasy. "He's out doing who knows what. We've been waiting for him to give us the signal to go, but he hasn't given us any transmissions since this whole fight started 24 hours ago."  
  
"We were going to raid Korbi's office," Cosmo interrupted. "Only thing is, we need backup. The main branch of the Super-Cats are the only ones that fit the bill. The Tennessee branch has already been taken out of action. We know that, because we got nothing but static when we tried to call."  
  
Teasy thought for a moment, a smile coming to his face. Daniel could almost imagine a hydrogen bulb appearing above his head. "I've thought of something that just might save our fur. Stay on the line," Teasy ordered, tapping a few buttons on the supercomputer. After a couple moments, the face of Carlos Cosmos appeared on the monitor, taking up one quarter of space on the screen and blocking Abigail's view of the Rad-Cats. Chico snickered when he saw this.  
  
"Carlos, do you read?" Teasy asked urgently.  
  
"Yes, I can read, el loco gato," Carlos said, "but reading's not important unless Chaos starts throwing authors at us."  
  
"Leave the jokes to me," hissed Teasy. "Are any of your pilots out?"  
  
"Just my 5 top ones and myself, getting ready to take on the Land-Air Eggs," Carlos said, unsure of what Teasy wanted. "Why?"  
  
"My brothers and I are getting ready to head out to the East Coast," Teasy explained, "but we need backup. The 4 of us will take the Radical Bomber over the ocean. What I need from YOU is to send the other half of your starfighter squadron along with us, because the Cheese crime family's new nation has----"  
  
"----just crossed the Mississippi river," the supercomputer snapped suddenly.  
  
"Okay, okay, Mu 2. You didn't have to shout," Teasy said, waving it off. "Anyways, we'll need help reaching Manhattan Island." He tapped a few more buttons on the viewscreen. "Escort us to the NYPC main headquarters, and then do what you can to run interference on the Cheeses." He turned to Sundance and the others. "That okay with you?"  
  
Sundance looked at his own group, then back towards Teasy. "Yeah, sure. That's fine with us. How quickly can you be here?"  
  
Teasy checked his watch. "Knowing how fast our vehicles are, I think we can be there in 1 hour. Can you hold out until then?"  
  
"Easily," said Abigail. "Korbi's been thinking that we're not a threat, so he's let us keep the pizza place in business. We haven't taken as many customers, still, so we were thinking of doing something about it."  
  
"I'm all for it, senors, senoritas," purred a grinning Carlos Cosmos. "Teasy, head down to the main hangar. I'll have your escorts waiting next to the Radical Bomber. Commander Cosmos, out."  
  
Carlos's part of the monitor winked out of existence, followed seconds later by the New York Pizza Cats. Daniel looked at his brother for confirmation. Following the other's short nod, the 4 of them dashed out of the Center.  
  
------------  
  
Minutes later, a nifty blue-green transport aircraft lifted off from the Mansion's main hangar bay and raced through the air towards the Pacific Ocean, blasting any enemy units that got too close.  
  
Escorting the Rad-Cats were 6 nimble fighters. Their shapes started off round at the massive engines and then narrowed to a 1 meter gap on all sides; it then stretched out again to form the widest part of the cockpit, then narrowed down into a sharp point. Each of the 6 bristled with high-tech laser beam cannons and several rocket launchers. These 6 ships made up the second half of the renowned Cosmos Squadron, the hottest vehicles this side of the Pacific.  
  
Inside the cockpit of the transport, Teasy stared outside as they roared over the perimeter of the main island. "This'll be our toughest assignment yet, guys," he said quietly. "How do you think we should handle this?"  
  
"Cautiously," said Runner. "Cosmos Squadron runs interference for their defensive fire as the Radical Bomber continues on through."  
  
"So, what're you saying, Hogan?" asked Teasy. "That each time something gets a lock on us, one of our escorts goes in, distracts them for a bit, then peels on back and regroups with us?"  
  
"Sounds like a decent plan, actually," chimed Daniel.  
  
"Hooooo-gan, the hero!" Chico whistled in admiration for the plot.  
  
Teasy nodded, then dialed up Cosmos #7. "Lieutenant, here are your orders. Once we cross the western borderline, use your instruments continuously. Each time one of Korbi's defensive linemen get a lock on us, peel off and keep that particular unit busy until the Bomber is out of range. Once that's done, resume escort formation."  
  
"Roger that, TM," said the cold voice of Cosmos #7's pilot. "You want us to destroy the unit that's bothering you, or just keep it occupied?"  
  
"What do you want, specifics?" Teasy growled. "Destroy it, then reform!"  
  
"All right, all right," Cosmos #7 said hastily. "Just wanted to know."  
  
Teasy shut off the communicator and sat in his seat, fuming. Chico, chuckling, suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a Teasy Melika clothesline.  
  
Runner voiced his concern. "You know, Teasy, you've sounded awfully serious recently. This is totally unlike you, you know." Lost in his thoughts, though, Teasy ignored the comment as he glared at the distant horizon, eager to take this fight to the enemy.  
  
The Radical Bomber, escorted by the six ships of the Cosmos, roared through the Ring of Fire, sending sonic booms flaring across the atmosphere that took some time to dissipate. 


	14. Do not make a Super-Cat angry

14: Do not make a Super-Cat angry  
  
  
Curtis, having done what he had wanted to do at the hospital, made his way back to the Mansion, stopping only to blast one of the Mine-Laying Cycles on his way back. "I can't believe it," he was muttering to himself. "Here I am, standing around and stalling, but for what? Each second that I loiter is an extra second that Chaos Kitten has to his own advantage!"  
  
Reaching the Mansion, he hurriedly pushed open the front door and headed right for the Command Center, where he could finally plot out some strategy. The entire building was empty, devoid of everyone from veteran to newcomer. He entered the Center and finally set to work. "Mu 2," he growled to the computer, claws flying over the keyboard, "Any updates on the battle outside?"  
  
"Same thing for past number of hours," muttered M2. "Chaos is slowly starting to push his way towards the Palace. Carlos Cosmos and 5 of his wingmen are attacking the outer defenses on the Eggs. Teasy and the Rad-Cats left not long ago, along with the other half of Cosmos Squadron, to comb out the lice in the United States known as the Cheese Mafia."  
  
"Wait a second," Curtis said, his claws coming to a quick stop. "Teasy went to the United States? I was going to have him take out some of those Siege Tanks."  
  
"Specifically, Manhattan, sir," said Mu 2. "I forwarded a call from the Sundance Kid to Teasy about 30 minutes ago. The New York Pizza Cats were going to raid the office of Chester Korbi, a member of the Cheese Mafia. They requested backup specifically from the main branch of the Super-Cats' Infinite Defense."  
  
"What, they couldn't ask the backup branch down in the South?" Curtis snarled.  
  
"That is correct, sir," said Mu 2, his voice a bit quieter. "The Tennessee branch is out of action. All 113 Super-Cats stationed there have been captured, injured, or both."  
  
Curtis slammed his fist against a console. Somehow, that action must have made the emergency light right above Mu 2's monitor blink. Pushing it, he triggered a new line of responses from Mu 2. The calico listened to each one, his eyes widening with shock.  
  
"The Pizza Cat parlor has been damaged. An outer wall collapsed on top of Speedy, Polly, Guido, and Good Bird, injuring them to the extent that they wouldn't be able to fight. On top of that, I have just received an emergency report originating a mile southwest of the Palace."  
  
Curtis shook his head, trying to clear out what he was hearing. This couldn't be happening! "Alright, then. What is it?"  
  
"The leader of this revolution, Chaos Kitten, has tracked down and captured Violet. He stole her sword first, which activated the alarm. He then caused a leftover support from a toppled building to collapse on top of her. With her knocked out, he only had to pick her up and carry her away. He cannot morph the sword into anything, due to its special properties, but---"  
  
Recognition descended like a thunderclap. "NO!"  
  
"Curtis, calm dow----"  
  
"Mu 2, shut yourself off," Curtis snapped. "Before you do, though, get a message through to Aldonza. I need her at the Pizza Cat parlor, pronto!"  
  
Leaping out of the Command Center, he slashed open a gaping hole in his bedroom window and leaped to the ground below. "All right now, Chaos Kitten," he yelled, "this time you've done it!"  
  
And that was the last any onlookers saw of him as he raced his way into lightspeed.  
  
----------  
  
Spinning her way through a series of airborne manuevers, Aldonza dodged the fire that the Land-Air Bombers could throw at her, hoping to keep them from firing on the helpless. Using the lasers from her eyes, she was able to disable the weaponry on one of the Bombers; but even SHE couldn't keep this up forever....  
  
A buzzing noise threw her out of her rhythm and sent her spinning as one of the Bomber's blasts nearly made impact. Checking the source of the buzzing noise, Aldonza decided to try a different approach.  
  
As the 8 Bombers that had been sent to take her down closed in, she started flying in circles around them. As the guns swiveled to keep her in their sights, she steadily increased her speed, initiating a Cyclone attack. Eventually, it had gotten to the point where she had to break Mach 3; but it was enough to cause a whirlpool of wind to knock the Bombers out of control, sending them crashing into the ground.  
  
Stopping her mid-air spin, she landed on the roof of a nearby building. Hurriedly, she yanked at her right sleeve, getting it down to the point where she could see her watch. She tapped a small button. "Yes, who is this?"  
  
"Aldonza, this is Mu 2. Grand Admiral Wildcat wants you to rendezvous with him at the Pizza Cats' parlor. The SPC have been gravely injured, and Wildcat thinks that your skills could come in handy...."  
  
Mu 2 never got to say anymore. Deactivating the transmission, Aldonza pulled her sleeve back up, leaped to the ground and took off running down a back alley, one of the few left that hadn't been scorched.  
  
--------------------  
  
Mu 2 listened to the static coming from the transmission, then closed the link. "Well!" it said aloud. "Everyone's been really rude recently!"  
  
The supercomputer shut off, and the Mansion was once more empty.  
  
-----------------  
  
Curtis finished dragging the portions of the wall off to one side. The 4 SPC that he had just rescued looked badly beaten and battered. He paced for a few seconds, then sat down on top of one of the broken pieces of parlor wall. "Come on, Aldonza, where are you?"  
  
"All right, all right," shouted someone. Curtis looked up and saw Aldonza running towards him. "I'm coming, I'm coming!"  
  
The fox came to a quick stop next to the SPC. "You want me to get them back up to speed?" she asked.  
  
"It's the most obvious thing in Little Tokyo," snarled Curtis. "We'll need their help to stop Chaos Kitten. What else do you want to do today?"  
  
"Ok, then," Aldonza said, wringing her wrist in preparation. "Just stay back; we can't have your metabolism overloading at this critical junction."  
  
Curtis stepped a few meters out of way as Aldonza knelt and placed one arm on Speedy's shoulder. A white glow, resonating out of nowhere, seemed to spark into existence around her and the Pizza Cat below her, slowly repairing whatever injuries Speedy had sustained. Aldonza shut her eyes in concentration, her tail shaking as she struggled to control this operation....  
  
And then the glow abruptly disappeared, and her eyes shot open as an ultra-sharp pain lanced through her paw and wrist. "Ow!" She looked down at Speedy; to her surprise, the Pizza Cat was fully conscious.  
  
As evidenced by the death grip on Aldonza's paw, which was sending spasms up and down the female fox's arm. "You can let go, now," she said, forced through gritted jaws. "I'd like to be able to keep my hand for the rest of my life."  
  
Speedy relaxed his grip, then let go. "How'd that happen?"  
  
"That must've been done reflexively," Aldonza said, rubbing her wrist. "That's the best reason I can think of for that."  
  
"Aldonza, you haven't used those healing abilities ever since Zapana got hurt in that spaceship explosion 4 years ago," Curtis reminded her. "In that period of time, you had lost control over most of the strengths of the business, and had forgotten how quick your patient's reflexes would be once they fully recovered."  
  
"Yeah, that could be it," she snarled. "Back off, you two. I still have 3 more to go."  
  
The Cat joined Curtis, and the two of them walked away. "Do you remember what happened?" the calico inquired. "At least, up to the point of blacking out?"  
  
"The 4 of us had gone on in to drag the last of the supplies over the Palace," Speedy replied. "Did you know that?"  
  
"Yeah, Vi told me about it," Curtis said. "Anything else?"  
  
"We heard this voice telling us that we wouldn't live long. I told him to show himself, but he just laughed and then sent the wall down on us. I don't remember anything from that point onward until Aldonza brought me back from the brink."  
  
"THAT has to HURT," Curtis said, wincing at the thought.  
  
"That's not even the half of it," Speedy groaned. "Our armor's at the Palace, Chaos Kitten is making his way towards the place, and his army's practically unstoppable."  
  
"We have to stop him," Curtis insisted, holding his fists in front of him. "As in----"  
  
He turned his head at a muffled sound. Curtis didn't hear anything else, so he leaned a bit closer to the source and cupped an ear with his paw.  
  
"C-currrtis----"  
  
And then the voice was cut off.  
  
"That doesn't sound good," Speedy said, shaking his head. He started running towards the noise, while Curtis hissed under his breath and scampered after him.  
  
It didn't look good when they arrived back at the parlor. A fully awake Polly had one hand around Aldonza's throat, cutting off circulation. "C-currtiisss...hel-l-lllppp...." She was trying to get Polly's hands off her, but she wasn't very successful.  
  
Curtis dashed forward and pried Polly's hand loose from Aldonza's neck. The fox fell backwards, one hand against her lungs, gasping for air. "Man, that was....some....dynamic reflexes!"  
  
Polly looked down at her hands, and then at her teammates. Speedy, Guido, and GB were all fully awake. "Oops. Sorry about that."  
  
"Yeah....no problem," Aldonza wheezed. "Now, how about stopping Chaos Kitten and his cousin? Anytime?"  
  
A buzzing noise sounded from Curtis's direction. He pulled out Shape-Shifter and tapped the button on the handle. "Grand Admiral Wildcat, come in," he snapped.  
  
"We're ready to go get him, Wildcat," a smooth voice purred. The sounds of aerial combat could be heard over the speaker. "We've just been waiting for your signal."  
  
The calico's fur fluffed up. "You never had to wait for my signal," he shouted. "GET A MOVE ON AND TAKE OUT THE REACTORS ON THOSE EGGS!"  
  
Carlos's voice remained unperturbed at Curtis's rage. "Affirmative, Curtis. Oh, and there's something that I need you to be aware of. We just did an electronic scan on a 300-foot radius, centered on your current position. There's a gigantic robot hiding approximately 145 feet and 6 inches east away from you, and it's armed to the teeth. Not to mention, piloted by a pair of organic cats."  
  
Curtis's fur slowly came to rest. "Thanks for the heads-up, Carlos. Now, get busy. Wildcat, out." He tapped the button again, then put the sword away.  
  
"Well, genius?" Guido's snide voice blurted out. "What's our plan of action, or are you the wrong Wildcat to speak to?"  
  
Curtis ignored the sarcasm hidden inside that voice. He lowered his voice drastically. "You four are going to have to go to the Palace without me. Get your armor and weapons, and get ready to fight. Get your way back here as soon as possible. I'll try to hold off that robot as long as possible. Chaos Kitten and Felonia are both in there."  
  
"Not exactly genius," GB murmured.  
  
"If you wanted genius, you should've talked to the Professor," Aldonza shot back. Curtis snickered a little at the comparison to Little Tokyo's most brilliant mind.  
  
Speedy looked at his teammates, and, one by one, received confirmation. "Come on, people. Let's hit it!" He, Polly, and Guido, in unison, hit the accelerators on their hover-shoes, and GB took to the air, following them to the Palace. 


	15. Incorporation

15: Incorporation  
  
Like F-14s gone berserk, the Radical Bomber and the 6 Cosmos ships twisted, dived, and rolled their way through laser and ballistic weapon fire.  
  
They hadn't gotten into any trouble until they crossed over Kansas City, Missouri; that was when a large group of robots, getting ready to assault the next state over, decided to take the fight to the good guys. It had taken a lot of fancy aerial manuevers and weapons locks to make it through that encounter, stopping the enemy advance temporarily; but since then, it had been smooth sailing as they systematically took out anything that had come too close.  
  
Until now.  
  
Teasy gazed at the chronometer on one side of the transport; within a minute, they should be approaching Manhattan Island, the most heavily fortified area of Chester Korbi's empire. He understood that they had to succeed on this mission; failure would mean a disasterous fate for the United States.  
  
Making up his mind, he pushed the communications button. "Cosmos #7, this is Teasy Melika. Come in."  
  
The pilot's cold voice sounded over the speaker. "Cosmos #7, standing by."  
  
"Lieutenant, I have some new orders for you. As soon as we're in the building, I need you and your group to fly around and do what you can to minimize the amount of robotic troops heading to defend Korbi. If you ever run out of missiles, then you're going to have to settle for lasers; the less resistance we meet, the better."  
  
There was a short pause; the Lieutenant was obviously mulling over this order. "Alright, then," he said. "Why don't we just hit the main robotics factory? Robots are coming out of there at a rate of 10 per second, and going up quickly. If we take the outer defenses with lasers, and then strafe the factory with missiles and torpedoes, the points we earn would be enough to scare some of the offending groups out of commission."  
  
Daniel, from where he was sitting, grinned. "The audacity of these guys never cease to amaze me."  
  
"It's a talent," replied Cosmos #7. For a moment, Teasy imagined a smile on the pilot's face.  
  
A beeping noise from his console shook him out of his stupor. "Stay frosty, guys," the Rad-Cat yelled. "This is it!"  
  
A group of missile turrets on the west side of the island acknowledged the presence of the 7 aircraft and welcomed them with open fire. Teasy, though, having learned a thing or two from Cosmos Squadron, pushed the Bomber to its limits and rocketed several missiles of his own. One by one, each missile smacked against its target, doing substantial damage to the turrets and putting them---at least, temporarily---out of commission.  
  
Teasy watched as Cosmos Squadron took out the incoming missiles, then smiled. "I'm just curious. Why am I so good?"  
  
Daniel, meanwhile, just stared out the side window, towards Cosmos #7. "I gotta get me one of those things," he said dreamily.  
  
"Yeah, well, you know who one of the best pilots in the fleet is?" Cosmos #7 laughed. "Yours truly!"  
  
"Everybody's gotta die sometime, Red," a metallic voice sniffed.  
  
Moments later, punctuated by multiple signals from the radar, a virtual fog of missiles appeared on the horizon, heading straight for the long arm of the Super-Cats. Daniel gasped in horror; Teasy, though, ignored the protests of his brothers, armed every piece of weaponry they had, slapped the lever that activated the afterburners, and let the thrill of combat take him.   
  
A minute later, it was over, as Cosmos #7 finished, "We are the invincible. That's right!"  
  
Chico, Daniel, and Runner didn't share the pilot's statement. They all just stared angrily at Teasy. "Way to go, you Terran Lunatic!" Chico snapped. "You could've gotten us killed!"  
  
Daniel snarled, as well. "That's right, and a Swat Kat you're not!"  
  
"Bingo," Runner added bitterly.  
  
"Oh, really," Teasy remarked drily. "Computer, damage report."  
  
"Superficial damage on right wing," the computer said in a monotone voice. "Besides that, no other damage to report. Auto-repair systems are handling it now, and it should be fixed within 2 minutes."   
  
Chico and Runner looked surprised, and Daniel's mouth fell open. "I saw it," Chico declared, "but I refuse to believe it!"  
  
"Now, if they were HEAT-SEEKING missiles, we would've had more of a problem," said Teasy. "Since they were just your normal, everyday missiles, they were only used to try to intimidate us. I had to prove to the Cosmos Cronies over there that I wasn't afraid to back down from a clear challenge."  
  
"Funny," said Runner. "You're not scared of going up against an estimated 9 dozen missiles, but you're frightened to death of standing on even ground with Polly Esther."  
  
"SHE can connect the dots," Teasy shot back. "Those missiles couldn't."  
  
"Yeah, well, those people must have awfully good scanners on them," Cosmos #7 cracked. "That guy who was speaking to us correctly guessed what color my fur was."  
  
"Here's what you're going to do, then: you go launch a strike against that guy and do as much damage as possible to anything that registers on your scopes as Korbi's men. This way, you get to have a little fun."  
  
"Right on," Cosmos #7 purred. When they heard this, all 4 Rad-Cats smiled.  
  
Abruptly, as the speaker clicked off and the 6 Cosmos ships broke formation, Teasy turned to his brothers. "In the meantime, bros----New York Pizza Cats Headquarters at 12:00!"  
  
---------------  
  
Sundance and Cosmo looked out the window, gaze fixed on the green-blue aircraft as the landing gear settled onto the ground. Smoke kicked up around the craft as it landed. "Who is that?" Cosmo asked.  
  
"Doesn't look like anything of Korbi's," Sundance remarked. "All their craft are either gray, silver, or some shade of monochrome."  
  
"Are the Rad-Cats here yet?" Abigail asked. She was sitting at a table on the far side of the parlor, trying to avoid notice.  
  
"That's probably them right now, isn't it?" DeeDee asked Sundance. She was applying an adhesive to the Kitty Whip that she wielded during a battle.  
  
The hatch popped down on the craft's underside. The second that the leader, Teasy Melika, stepped out onto the sidewalk, Sundance turned his head over his shoulder and grinned. "Correct, as always."  
  
In single file, Teasy, Chico, Daniel, and Runner started strolling casually towards the entrance of the pizza parlor. A cylinder-shaped drone started to charge towards them, but Daniel quickly torched it before it could do any harm.  
  
Cosmo looked at the young cat, a bit surprised but hiding it. "Not bad. He's gotten better since we last saw him."  
  
At last, the 4 of them reached the door. "AHOY THE PIZZA CATS!" Teasy shouted.  
  
Almost immediately, all 4 Pizza Cats raced madly for the door, Cosmo reaching it first. With a shove, it opened smoothly, and the 4 walked on in.  
  
"Hi, Sundance, everyone," Teasy began. "Outside of the metal nightmares hanging around outside, how are things going?"  
  
"Fine, thank you," said DeeDee. "Have you thought of how we're supposed to get in Korbi's office?"  
  
Teasy blinked, suddenly nervous. "Drat. I should've thought that far ahead."  
  
"Well, you didn't, and now we're stuck until we can find a way in." Chico, ever the pessimist, glared at his brother.  
  
"Well, we came across some missile turrets and a number of Korbi's aircraft, so they obviously know we're here."  
  
"My, my," said a metallic voice. "I had originally thought that organics weren't that clever!"  
  
An 8-feet-tall robot, resembling very much a human skeleton, faded out of its immediate surroundings, and began charging up the laser cannons in its hands. Seconds later, all around them, square-but-squat drones popped into the parlor, focusing their needles on the collective group.  
  
Cosmo did the deepest voice he could, trying to sound like a High Templar. "We've been surrounded!"  
  
"If I hear one more impression out of 'Starcraft', you can just say 'May Adun watch over you,' because you'll be seeing stars!" Runner growled at the tall cat.  
  
"Lower your weapons and come with us," uttered one of the smaller drones. "You will dispense with the arguing immediately."  
  
Abigail, Sundance, and Daniel looked at each other, and then at the drones surrounding them. All in all, they were outnumbered 4 to 1. Not very good odds. Daniel began to say, "Starting to sound like a----"  
  
He never got to say anymore. A small copper-colored frisbee floated lazily into the parlor through one of the busted windows, almost in slow motion. "Where'd that frisbee come from?" Chico demanded.  
  
No one else said a word in reply. The frisbee nailed one of the drones solidly---and almost immediately, all havoc broke loose. All the drones, plus the skeletal robot, began shaking violently. Some began to overload and explode; and the remaining ones tried to totter towards the group. Several drones began tossing the needles at them; and as one, all 8 cats leaped out of the way.  
  
As Abigail scurried to find cover, the 7 that were left vaporized the last of the scout group; Super-Saber, needles, lasers, and seven-shooter, all without breaking a sweat.  
  
"All right, what in the world was that all about?" Abigail spoke aloud from her spot under a table.  
  
"I don't suppose this is the wrong time to sign up?" asked someone.  
  
Runner looked around, and then spotted two forms underneath the Radical Bomber outside. "Whoever you are, come on out of there!" he shouted at them.  
  
Both of the figures came out. One was wearing apparel somewhat similar to the Rad-Cats'; but was copper-colored, and instead of a baseball cap was a pair of pearl earrings. The other one wore the same apparel, but in a light shade of blue. One of the faces was chocolate-point Siamese, and the other was white domestic longhair. The white longhair, Sundance noticed, had some gloves on that left the tips of the paws exposed, leaving enough room for the claws.  
  
The faces of Teasy, Daniel, and Runner were transformed with shock. Chico, meanwhile, maintained his sarcastic demeanor. "Let me guess," he said. He pointed to the Siamese----"Alice..."-----and then to the white longhair----"and Sylvia. Am I right?"  
  
Sylvia waved. "Hi, guys. Mind if the two of us join the action?"  
  
Teasy looked at first his brothers uneasily, and then the New Yorkers. "Well?"  
  
"We've come prepared," Alice added. "And if it's a fight Korbi wants, then it's a fight he's going to get."  
  
"Whatever your decision is going to be, Rad-Cat, we'll back you up on it," Sundance said to Teasy. "It's not like we have anything else to do."  
  
Teasy nodded, took a deep breath, and turned toward his sisters.  
  
----------------  
  
"NOOOO!"  
  
Chester Korbi's scream echoed throughout the room. He looked at his robotic commander. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'MANHATTAN ISLAND HAS A SUPER-CAT INVASION?!?' WE TOOK OUT THE ENTIRE BACKUP BRANCH OF THOSE BLASTED SUPER-CATS!!"  
  
"That's the thing, Mayor," said the robot, taking care not to say "Major" again. "The Super-Cats that arrived aren't from what's left of the backup branch. This was a group sent directly from the main branch in Little Tokyo."  
  
Korbi paused his tantrum long enough to think, then checked the readings on his computer monitor. "You'd think with all the attacks going on in Little Tokyo, they wouldn't be able to send any help over here. Who did they send? Did you find out?"  
  
"Yes, sir," said the robot commander. "They've sent the 4 Rad-Cats and half of their vaunted starfighter elite, Cosmos Squadron. Already we're receiving reports throughout the city of fighters destroying the troops deployed here."  
  
"Tell the people at the robot facility to quicken their pace," Korbi said angrily. "We'll send every robot we can produce down their throats until they're destroyed, and then resume our attacks on the front! They've gotten in, but they'd better not get out!"  
  
"Yes, sir." The robot spun around 180 degrees and bustled off.  
  
----------------  
  
They were met, surprisingly enough, by a Ninja Crow wearing the uniform of one of Korbi's security agents. He looked like he was in his mid-to-late twenties; but it was hard to tell.  
  
Still, though, Teasy had to admit that this was the most ingenious idea that Jerry Atrick had ever thought up.  
  
"Sounds like ol' Atrick," Chico commented as looked around at the streets of New York City. All around them were wreckage of various robots: all of them destroyed by Alice Melika's EMP Frisbee. "Sounds like him to send someone to spy on Korbi's activities without being noticed."  
  
The Crow nodded. "Right. Korbi's base of operations is at Gorgonzola International HQ. I presume you know where that is?"  
  
Cosmo was puzzled. "Yes, we do, but wasn't it destroyed by that huge Cheese energy overload?"  
  
"Right as rain, Pizza Cat," said the Crow. "They've managed to rebuild it, though. They've lined the walls with protective shielding in case such a thing ever happens again." He paused. "Be careful, guys. If he's not at the International HQ, he's probably at the old mayor's office; but the chances of that are low. You'll need every trick in the book to beat him."  
  
"Thanks, Crow," said Teasy quietly. "Head over to the Radical Bomber; it's parked right outside the NYPC's parlor. You stay there and wait for us, but make yourself scarce if anything of Korbi's shows up. Don't try to do anything rash."  
  
"Right!" the Crow cawed, dashing off. Getting up to speed, he half-flew, half-ran towards the transport jet.  
  
Teasy smiled as the Crow ran off; he certainly had a lot of energy for his age. He turned his stare towards his brothers, his sisters, and his allies. "Heads up, people. We've got a country to rescue!"  
  
With that, they scampered off towards the unknown. 


	16. Evil Duties Disrupted

16: Evil Duties Disrupted  
  
  
Chaos Kitten cringed as his controls suddenly went haywire. Seconds later, though, they died down without giving the reason why they had done so. "We've been detected, Felonia," he hissed quietly.  
  
"By who?" came the apprehensive groan from the backside of the Vile-class Goliath.  
  
"Who else?" Chaos growled. "Curtis knows where we are now. Next question is, just what is he going to do next? Is he going to lead a frontal attack with all lasers going off, or is he going to try a devious sneak attack?"  
  
A beeping noise sounded from the sensor module on Chaos Kitten's left. Calmly, he reached over and tapped a button. A single blip appeared on the sensor scope. "That's strange. Only one is coming in, and it's from the front."  
  
"Curtis, maybe?" asked Felonia.  
  
"Possibly. Felonia, could you try and find out just why he's alone? You know, spy on him? Just like old days?"  
  
"I don't see a problem with that," his cousin responded.  
  
Chaos Kitten knew almost immediately that something was wrong by the lengthy delay that followed. There was a straining noise, and then silence. "Felonia? Something wrong?"  
  
"Guess," came Felonia's voice, a bit strained. "My safety harness is stuck. I guess I'm just going to----"  
  
"NO! DON'T SLASH IT OFF!" Chaos Kitten screamed.  
  
But it was too late. By the sudden tearing noise that followed, he realized that Felonia had used her claws to slice the harness loose.  
  
And, simultaneously, had accidently set off a high-powered security laser, designed to severely hinder anyone trying to escape out of there.  
  
NOW he remembered what the back cockpit was for: to hold prisoners! NOW he wished he hadn't gotten those extra controls installed.  
  
Wincing with a bit of sympathy pounding through him as the air was lit with a high-pitched scream, Chaos unbuckled his safety harness and climbed down the side of the Goliath.  
  
The situation wasn't good. Felonia, extremely blackened and very seriously burned, was slumped over the controls of the back seat of the Goliath. There was a series of cuts on one side of her face. Her green-and-yellow jacket was criss-crossed with cuts, slashes, and tears, some of the cuts reaching through the fur. As Chaos Kitten approached, she managed to turn her head weakly.  
  
"Felonia?" her cousin snapped. "What's wrong?"  
  
Felonia looked at him. "So....much......pain....." she rasped.  
  
Chaos Kitten looked about him, confused and angry. Not now! This couldn't happen now! "I've got to get you to the hospital."  
  
"The hospital's nearly full," a female voice piped up.  
  
Chaos spun around, drawing his captured sword. "Who are you? Show yourself!"  
  
A female crow walked out of the shadows, wearing a red kimono. Chaos Kitten was almost immediately aggressive. "Who are you?"  
  
"Carla," said the crow. She said nothing else, merely waiting for the cat's next action.  
  
Chaos looked around. Curtis was on his way, and there wasn't much time. "If not for me, then do this for my cousin. Get Felonia to the hospital. If there isn't any space there, then YOU do what you can. Felonia's the only one I have, and I don't want to see her dead anytime soon!"  
  
Carla looked worried, but she nodded her head and walked forward quickly. Chaos reached up, gently pulled Felonia out of the cockpit, and handed her to Carla. She took her in her arms, looking a bit confused. "To the hospital," Chaos hissed. "Now!"  
  
Understanding the significance of the command, Carla walked away as quickly as she could with an injured cat in tow. Making a mental note to leave the hospital undamaged, Chaos Kitten clambered back up into the Goliath to wait for Curtis's arrival.  
  
The Cheese stood alone. Chaos Kitten was the Cheese. Wildcat was the rat. It was all up to him.  
  
---------  
  
When she finally came to, she realized immediately that something was amiss.  
  
For one, she certainly wasn't in the back seat of the Vile-class Goliath, wasting away. Secondly, her face was bandaged. Thirdly, she was in a room with white walls, white window shades, and was in a bed with white sheets and white pillows. There was a television in front of her, a small table with a lamp, a remote control, and television listings.  
  
The setting and the arrangement was just plain too familiar. She was in a recovery room at the Little Tokyo Hospital.  
  
"Sorry for the quick service," a wry female voice said quietly, echoing through the room. "The last patient in that bed had to be sent to the main medical room for some special treatment. We wanted to get you in there before she got back."  
  
"Care to play 'Twenty Questions'?" Felonia asked. She tried to sound mean, but it sounded like it came out too softly. She tore one of the bandages off her face and felt the fur beneath it. It felt okay; but with the dangerous life she led....  
  
"Depends on the questions," said the voice.  
  
"Who are you, who was the last patient in here, and what am I supposed to do until Chaos Kitten gets here?" Felonia growled. "Not exactly the number you were expecting, but'll they'll do for now."  
  
"I can't tell you who I am," the voice said quietly.  
  
"Oh? And why not?" Felonia snarled. "Suffer brain loss?"  
  
"For the simple reason that I don't know," the voice said. "I'm not sure when or why, but about 5-10 months ago, I completely lost my memory of everything that had happened to me in the past 3 years. Everything---my name, my hobbies, my career, EVERYTHING----vanished faster than you could say 'Jackie Robinson'. From that point on, I was totally on my own. I was completely lost."  
  
An old memory, tucked away for safekeeping, came into Felonia's mind. It was of her old boss, Quarter, putting the finishing touches on his MemDrain machine. A series of adjacent memories followed: A silver tabby being dragged, kicking and screaming, inside the Animal Legion of Doom's main headquarters; that same silver tabby wondering just who in the world she was hours later; the wreckage that remained of the A.L.D.'s main HQ after Curtis had burned it to the ground, posessed by a pure fury.  
  
Guess Felonia would have to take the chance and probe a little deeper. "You sound like a cat. Do you at least know what kind of cat you are?"  
  
The owner of the voice seemed to consider the question. "I'm not truly sure, but I think I remember hearing one of the doctors say to me that I'm a silver tabby."  
  
SHE WAS THE ONE! For a moment, she absorbed the meaning of that fact. Then, amazed, Felonia let the voice drone on. "As for the second question, the last patient in here went by the name of Francine Manx. She said something about being a Samurai Pizza Cat, whatever THAT is."  
  
Felonia shook her head furiously. No. She would NOT tell that mysterious person what she and Chaos Kitten had done to her. "The Samurai Pizza Cats are the local heroes of the city. The city's Prime Minister kept on attacking the city and finally forced a comet in this direction. The Pizza Cats were still able to defeat him, though, and he was kicked out of the city. He and the terrorist group that I used to work for came over here, though, and tried again. Only with the help of Curtis Wildcat were they able to defeat him once and for all time."  
  
There was nothing but silence from the other end. "Yo! You in there?" Felonia meowed.  
  
"Yeah, I'm still here," said the voice. "It's just that the name, 'Curtis Wildcat', rang an old bell. I still can't figure out why."  
  
Felonia tensed.   
  
The owner of the voice recovered. "As for your last question, I don't know. Someone by the name of Carla Crow brought you here. Chaos Kitten, at least according to someone in the main lobby, is staying behind to fight someone, so it might be awhile."  
  
"Ok, I have one last question," Felonia growled. "Can I at least see who you are so I can know that I'm not talking to a disembodied head?"  
  
There was a yawn. "Oh, very well. I hope you'll pardon my present condition, though."  
  
There was a scuffling sound; obviously, the one that was talking to her had been resting in her own bed. The figure then presented herself, and what she appeared to be startled Felonia out of her wits' end.  
  
The she-cat stood nearly 6-feet tall, if she wasn't already at it. She had a very long tail; about the length of her ear-tips to her fingertips. The black hair and the gray body fur that she had was jumbled in a mess, just like the nightgown she wore. The grief in her eyes complied with the cat's personal appearance, throwing away the mean exterior and causing buried feelings to fight a war with each other deep inside Felonia's heart. "My, you look like---"  
  
"What's going on here?" a louder voice hissed.  
  
Both the gray cat and Felonia turned their heads towards the door. A somewhat ticked Francine Manx was standing there, wearing a green-yellow nightgown and at least 4 heavy bandages, as well as a number of bruises, a number of scratches, and a frown that was as evident as her injury.  
  
It was then that a heavy flood of personal memories once again rang out through her mind: a taller, older tabby cat attacking a younger, helpless kitten.....a wizened Siamese yowling at someone....a group of Bengal tabby cats teasing a young kitten, laughing at it....  
  
One side of the internal conflict won out. Seconds later, the hardened fighter that was Felonia Jase suddenly burst into tears. "What have I done?" she repeatedly sobbed. "What have I done? It's all my fault!"  
  
The gray cat and Francine looked at each other. Nodding at the same time, they both dashed forward as fast as they could to try to comfort the yellow tabby who, for the time being, seemed inconsolable. 


	17. Living up to their Name

17: Living up to their Name  
  
  
"Heads up, Commander!" one of Carlos's wingmates snapped in his ear, via radio. "Those laser beams on the top egg are tracking you!"  
  
"I'll worry about that, Lieutenant," Carlos shot back, twisting and reaving around a series of laser blasts. "You just worry about taking out those eggs' reactors!"  
  
"Roger that, Commander!" One by one, his 5 wingmates that remained burrowed their way into a shaft that led directly to the reactor core on their respective targets.  
  
Carlos quickly checked his instruments, casually destroying the last of those weapons emplacements as he did so. It was then that he noticed the kind of progress that the Mine-Laying Cycles and the Siege Tanks were making.  
  
----------------  
  
General Catton and his teammates stood on top of the roof of an office building, lost as to what to do. Each time they tried to attack those Siege Tanks and Cycles, the nearby power of the Land Bombers and the awesome firepower of the Siege Tanks kept on holding them off.  
  
Meowzma shook his head sadly as Catton held up a small transistor radio. "You sure about this, General?" he asked.  
  
"Of course, I am," Catton said. "No better source for help than the Super-Cats." He spoke into the radio. "Major General Karate, this is General Catton. If you're not busy, we could use some short help!"  
  
"Hold on one second, General!" Aldonza's voice barked over the radio. Seconds later, a Land Bomber went up like wildfire. "Myself and Donatello will keep the Land Bombers busy so that Bat Cat can bomb the Siege Tanks!" Another Land Bomber destroyed. "After that, the rest of you guys can blast those Cycles!"  
  
"Sounds good to me," Bat Cat said, "but the question is, can YOU handle it?"  
  
"Bat Cat, I'm a pilot WITHOUT using my tail, too! If you think THIS is good, you haven't seen me yet! Now get going so I can Cyclone these jets!"  
  
Bat Cat said only one word as the voice clicked off the radio: "Cool." He grabbed hold of a sack of grenades that was laying nearby and took to the air.  
  
-------------  
  
The robot commander of the lead siege tank detected a distant rumble far ahead of him. "That's odd," it said aloud. Siege tanks didn't have that far of a weapons range; the explosions had to have come from the air.  
  
"SixShot One, I've lost contact with the squadron of Land Bombers. They went after a pair of organics, and abruptly disappeared." The driver of the siege tank looked at him, its metallic face having as close to a look of concern as you could get.  
  
"INCOMING!!!" a voice screamed over the radio, wiping out any chance of a response.  
  
The tank's commander threw his head around and stared at the viewscreen. Filling up the screen almost entirely was a grenade, compliments of Bat Cat. The commander never got a chance to order the tank out of the way, because the whole thing blew itself to bits.  
  
----------  
  
General Catton picked up the signal immediately: a small group of Mine-Laying Cycles, unprotected by the Siege Tanks. "Here they come," he barked. "10 of those Cycles are coming in. Meowzma, you burrow underground and catch them by surprise. They're laying mines at 30 meter intervals; you'll catch them at the 15 meter mark and then take care of whatever they leave behind. Spritz, you soak the metal with your water guns and slow them down."  
  
"And THEN what?" Spritz asked.  
  
Catton pounded a fist into an open palm. "I'll show them what firepower is all about!"  
  
"Right!" Meowzma and Spritz said in unison. The two of them departed for their respective posts.  
  
Catton, meanwhile, smiled as he watched the Cycles come on in.  
  
Those things would never know what hit them.  
  
-----------  
  
10 minutes passed.  
  
-----------  
  
Ambush Cat looked at the emergency report hastily, a bit impressed in the process; half the siege tanks destroyed by Bat Cat, with more each second; the entire compliment of Cycles wasted by General Catton's explosive firepower; the entire squadron of Land Bombers annilhated. Also mentioned on the report was that Catton, Meowzma, and Spritz, aided by an unhindered group of Little Tokyo security forces, were quickly destroying the Sub-Land Artillery Units.  
  
Which left it up to him to destroy what was left of the assault force: the 5 Stealth Tanks.  
  
Ambush Cat heard a crumpling sound behind him. Without stopping to see what it was, he dived into a nearby alley. Peeking out, he saw the air in front of him twisting and curving, as if the air itself was distorted. "Stealth Tank," he hissed.  
  
The 5 Stealth Tanks uncloaked with a suddenness that almost made the cat jump. In unison, the Tanks fired their Dragon Tow Rockets at a florist shop; the lightweight materials on the Stealth Tank allowed for quick reaction timing. Decimating the building, the tanks cloaked again.  
  
Ambush Cat, however, had been watching their every move. Watching distortions in front of him, he slowly crept up to it, counting up to 5. When he reached 2, he jumped on top of the fourth Stealth Tank in line.  
  
That got a reaction from the rear Stealth Tank. Uncloaking, it unleashed a hail of Rockets in Ambush Cat's direction. Reaching the number 4, the cat jumped again. Just as he hit the number 5, the Rockets that were fired hit the place where he had been seconds earlier----the Stealth Tank.  
  
Watching the smoke of the wreckage drift skyward, Ambush Cat got another idea. Grabbing lightweight pieces of the broken Tank in his mouth, he took off running and managed to get ahead of the front Stealth Tank, which uncloaked as he did so. Moving as fast as he could without getting hit, he jammed a still-hot-and-blackened Tank gun into the barrel of the lead Tank, causing the other tanks to uncloak. Leaping over some Rockets, the Black Maine Coon crammed some more pieces of wreckage into the barrels of the tanks.  
  
Free at last, Ambush Cat dashed off to safety as the barrels of the Stealth Tanks overloaded and exploded. This ignited a chain reaction within the insides of the Dragon Tow Rockets, causing them to backfire on their owners.  
  
Ambush Cat remained where he stood, victorious. Abruptly, he frowned. "One thing remains," he snarled.  
  
------------------  
  
Carlos Cosmos received the reports from his starfighter with a smile. All-in-all, the tables had turned against the forces of Chaos Kitten: all Sub-Land Units, Land Bombers, siege tanks, Mine Cycles, and Stealth Tanks sent to the junkyard.  
  
A flash of light almost made him jump. Forcing himself to redirect his attention to his piloting, he nudged his ship above the array of internal weaponry directed against him. Snapping his teeth, the expert pilot jabbed a button above him, and a pair of green-white missiles shot from the starboard side of the ship.  
  
The two missiles implanted themselves on the two sides of the tunnel. White lines, spreading themselves throughout the sides of the passageway like veins, reached the various cannons and launchers that had the business ends pointed at Carlos Cosmos. With a few flickers and flashes, the weapons shut themselves off as the paraylzed computer circuitry did their work.  
  
That did it. Now Cosmos had full access to the massive internal chamber of the Land-Air Egg.  
  
Outside, one by one, the other 5 Cosmos ships spun and dived their ways out of their respective targets. The Eggs, spinning in their death throes, converged on a single spot right outside the fringe of the city. Immediately, upon reaching that spot, they lit up the sky with explosions that would remind one of the destruction of the nuclear silo. Unperturbed by the brilliance, the starfighters encircled the last Egg, waited for their commander to reappear.  
  
Inside, Carlos's fighter appeared inside the huge chamber. The reactor itself was equipped with a barrage of defensive weaponry, all aimed at Carlos. Blinking suddenly, they fired, a ferocious army of ballistic armaments.  
  
"BLAST!" Carlos shouted, slamming a fist against a console as he controlled the ship with his other paw. As he brought his craft up, down, and all around in hopes of dodging everything, his mind started thinking at twice the speed. That weaponry was forcing him to concentrate on his flying instead of firing anything, and he was mad. Thinking quickly, his eyes lit upon a little white light next to his right arm. Without even a second glance, he quickly elbowed it----  
  
----and, abruptly, the cannons and missile launchers stopped firing at him. "Carlos, why didn't you think of that cloaking device sooner?" he asked himself.  
  
But now, he had a job to do. "Time for this baby to bite the dust," Carlos purred. He flipped a series of switches on the left side of his weapons console, and the whole ship started to glow green. An auxilary cannon popped out the bottom of his ship. The green glow intensified to a bright white that focused in the center of the cannon. At last, Carlos tapped the "Disintegrate" button as he silently thanked the one who thought up the use of sunglasses for fighter pilots.  
  
Nicknamed "Fury of the Xel'naga" by Curtis, Carlos had named it the Kao Cannon in honor of Goku. This awesome blaster was the most powerful weapon his ship carried, and, as such, had enough firepower to make the atomic bomb look wimpy. The "mere" titanium shielding of the reactor would not be powerful enough to keep it from going down.  
  
All of those thoughts were roaring through Carlos's mind as his final shot of the battle was fired. The white-green laser blast impacted against the shield of the reactor and sent the whole thing to destinations unknown, blowing away the entire outer casing and penetrating into the core. The entire interior of the reactor chamber went white as Carlos instinctively turned the ship around to protect his eyes from the glare. Without another thought, he blindingly punched the afterburners to the maximum and burst into the tunnel, one step ahead of the thunderous explosions.  
  
Seconds later, his ship reached the end of the tunnel. Those explosions had started to creep around his line of sight.....the heavy Gs caused by his spinning ship were starting to overwhelm him....  
  
A voice crackled in his ear as he overcame his excitement, overriding some static. ".....ing on, Commander? That explosion was just TOO violent to have been done with lasers!"  
  
Carlos looked behind him, short of breath: yes, that WAS the flaming wreckage of the Egg spinning around in the air, crashing into the ground and racing off to endless boundaries.  
  
"Tell you all about it later," Carlos said, panting. He slowed down the ship. "Right now, I feel like I could use a nap.....I'm bringing my ship in for a landing at the Palace. You and the others follow me." 


	18. Little Tokyo Giants

18: Little Tokyo Giants  
  
  
Chaos Kitten sat in the pilot's seat of his Vile-class Goliath. How dare this one cat? Curtis Wildcat, the Lone Destroyer, finally could be made out in his personal sight.  
  
He had obviously delayed; that was a given, knowing him. The calico was walking forward slowly now, sword in paw. Each step was deliberately planned; there were no mistakes involved.  
  
Chaos scoffed. Watching the calico walk towards him, he started thinking that Curtis would be making a lot of mistakes tonight. What could one cat and a sword be able to do against the most heavily armored weapon in Chaos's arsenal?  
  
----------  
  
  
  
Curtis walked slowly towards the Goliath. This was the moment he'd been waiting for ever since the battle started. He knew what he was supposed to do; this was his prime objective.  
  
And there was no way, in any of his 9 lives, that he was going to turn back from that.  
  
And, if things got rough, he had a few surprises to call on.  
  
Curtis stopped walking, a full 50 paces away from the Goliath. Even with nearsighted eyes, he could see Chaos Kitten's smirk clearly. Curtis snarled in response, then turned his eyes towards the Goliath.  
  
The thing was huge; approximately 39 feet, 2 inches high, and was a cross between Vile's robotic walker and the Terran Goliath. It had fists on its sides that it could use as weapons, as well as quad machine guns, rocket launchers, and a green jewel in its chest that could fire laser beams. The robot's armor had INSANE strength.  
  
This was not going to be easy.   
  
Curtis finally smiled. This action was noticed by Chaos Kitten. "Hey, Tiny!" the evil cat shouted. "What's so funny?"  
  
Curtis looked up at the figure in the gigantic machine before him, and said 2 words. 2 words that would set the stage for the battle to come.  
  
"It's showtime."  
  
----------  
  
"What do you mean, it's all your fault?" asked the gray cat. She and Francine weren't doing a very good job of comforting Felonia, regardless of all their attempts.  
  
"It's my fault," Felonia sobbed. "I was the one that told Chaos Kitten to use that Goliath to knock Francine silly. I was the one that told my boss to mess up your mind. It was all MY doing!"  
  
"What motivated you to do all of this?" the gray cat asked, waving a paw towards the window, at the catastrophic conditions outside.  
  
"I thought I was fighting for a just cause," Felonia cried, pounding the pillows in frustration. "Just LOOKING at you made me think of my OWN past!"  
  
Francine sat down on her bed. "Tell me."  
  
"Tell you WHAT?" Felonia said, sniffling.  
  
"What happened to you in the past that caused you to join Quarter," Francine said.  
  
Felonia waved a paw, exasparated. "I don't know what to say. Jealousy, abuse....that sort of thing."  
  
------  
  
"The stage is set, and the rules have been placed," Chaos Kitten purred. "Your move, Wildcat."  
  
Curtis clenched his sword and began the process of morphing it into something; but Chaos stopped him before he could, holding up a small rectangular remote. "Just thought I'd remind you of something, Wildcat. If you try to morph that sword into anything dangerous enough to defeat me, your Princess will receive a shocking reception."  
  
Curtis's mouth fell open, and his sword stopped glowing. "Blast," the cat muttered angrily. "Then, I guess I'm just going to have to do this the HARD way!"  
  
"Oh?" asked Chaos Kitten, bored with the proceedings. "What's the HARD way?"  
  
Curtis just chuckled. "You'll see. I was hoping it wouldn't have to come to this, but you haven't left me with a whole lot of choice."  
  
Almost immediately, Curtis dived forward, holding his sword in front of him. Increasing his speed, he dashed by the Goliath and slashed at it at the knee----  
  
And nothing happened.  
  
As Curtis stared, aghast at what at happened, the Goliath slowly turned around and let loose a series of machine gun fire. Curtis quickly dodged it, still searching for a weak point.  
  
--------  
  
"Define jealousy and abuse," said Francine. She folded her arms the best she could.  
  
"Jealousy...." Felonia hesitated. What would they do with this knowledge? "....of Curtis. I used to be a Super-Cat..."  
  
The gray cat abruptly turned away. After a moment of silence, she moaned a bit, and then turned back to Felonia. "Go on."  
  
"There was a mean streak planted in me by my relatives. That was what caused me to abandon him and pursue my own goals."  
  
"You mentioned abuse," said Francine. "What about it?"  
  
"Let me show you something." Felonia brushed aside some fur on her forehead, and traced a finger on the 3 scars that ran down her face. "I was abused as a kitten physically. My cousins---well, most of them, anyway---and my uncle and aunt would pick on me at the drop of a hat. It wasn't a coincidence when my uncle's claws met my face for the first time on my first day of grade school. I was 6 standard Kittenoan months old at that time, which would be equal to about 5 years on a human's scale."  
  
Felonia looked at Francine, who was deep in thought. The Samurai Pizza Cat then looked up at her. "Sounds like you've had a rough childhood."  
  
--------  
  
Getting back on his feet from the near hit, Curtis propelled himself forward, deciding on a different strategy. Right before the right fist on the Goliath could make contact with him, he leaped, landing on top of the fist just as it started its swing back to a "ready" state. Right when the fist stopped, he jumped again, letting his momentum carry him.  
  
Chaos saw this, and began turning the machine around; however, barely had he started when energy blasts from Curtis's Shape-Shifter began slamming into the machine. Desperately hoping that the armor would hold, he continued turning the robot around.  
  
Finally, the robot made a complete 180 degree turn, and when it was done, there was not a single scratch on the robot's paint job.  
  
Snickering, Chaos Kitten hit a lever in front of him, putting the robot into "Charge" mode. The robot flew foward faster than thought possible and drove the left fist straight at Curtis. Unable to dodge, the metal made contact with the calico and slammed him into a nearby building. The cat fell to the ground, leaving behind a massive imprint.  
  
"NOOOOOO!!!"  
  
Hearing the screaming, Chaos Kitten quickly spun the machine around---and was promptly met by a full-scale Ginzu attack: the Cat's Eye Slash, the Firebat, the Heart Breaker, and the Worc's Fire, all launched at the same time and impacting one after another. Shielding his eyes, he felt the robot stagger backwards a few steps.  
  
While this was going on, no one noticed the white flashing that eminated from Shape-Shifter.  
  
-------  
  
The light flashed insistently, finally splitting open the statue on the very top of Mount Coochiyama. When the dust had settled and the rumblings had dissipated, a large golden robot could be seen. A noise burst forth from its vocal speakers that could be construed as the equivalent of a roar; and seconds later, its rocket thrusters activated, sending the robot towards the ruins of the city.  
  
As Guru Lou and Atom Cat watched this occur from inside their lab, there was no doubt in their minds that the Supreme Catatonic had returned.  
  
Atom Cat sighed. "The legend is back."  
  
Guru Lou looked at him and shook a finger pointedly. "I told you not to read my collection of sci-fi books."  
  
Atom Cat snickered. "I haven't been reading yours! Honest!"  
  
Guru Lou shook his head. "Look. Let's just get back to work on this project. We have a very tight schedule for the next week and a half."  
  
The two turned away from the window and got back to work. 


	19. Manhattan Blueprint

19: Manhattan Blueprint  
  
  
Charging onto the scene with all weapons blazing, the Rad-Cats and the New York Pizza Cats made short work of the sentries that patrolled the outside perimeter of the Gorgonzola International HQ. When the fighting was over, there was nothing but wreckage.  
  
Wreckage, and the 9 superheroic cats.  
  
Daniel blew on his flamethrowers, which were still smoking. "Good thing these were fully gassed up," he said.  
  
Teasy laughed, then pulled out the transistor radio that he carried. "Time for a progress report." He switched it on. "This is Teasy Melika, calling Cosmos Squadron. How's it going?"  
  
"Like clockwork," purred Cosmos #7. The roar of a missile echoed in the background. "The robotics factory is operating at only 10% efficiency now. One more run, and it's toast. We've had some heavy opposition from the missile turrets and robotic defenses, but it's nothing our Knockout Torpedoes couldn't handle. All in all, I'd say this global war is turning in our favor."  
  
"Good. As soon as you're done having your fun, I'll need you to clear away the last of the perimeter defenses so we can get the original mayor back in office. We had to punch a small hole so that my bros and the New Yorkers could get in, but the rest of the area is swarming with robots. I've got a feeling the main robot control area isn't here in Gorgonzola HQ."  
  
"You're right. It isn't," Cosmos #9 chimed in, snapping.  
  
Everyone turned towards Teasy's radio. "Huh?"  
  
"We're picking up heavy sonar waves from deep inside Central Park," said Cosmos #9. "There's a hidden transmitter from inside the Park that's inciting the robots to attack. If we destroy it, there's a good chance all of Korbi's metallic operations will disintegrate on the spot."  
  
"If you're going to destroy it, make sure it's the ONLY thing you destroy," Sundance hissed at the radio. "I want as minimum as possible damage to Central Park. It's the only nice area we still have around here."  
  
"You don't need to worry about a thing, Pizza Cat," Cosmos #12, the youngest member in the squadron, meowed. "If we have to, we can pick gnats off a wall with our cannons without even scourching the finish."  
  
"Right now, that gnat in Central Park needs wasted," Teasy growled. "As soon as you're done, get over there, pronto!"  
  
"Acknowledged. Cosmos Squadron, out."  
  
----  
  
Korbi slammed his fists down onto the table in front of him. The latest news, straight from his robot commander, were getting worse. "THOSE FOOLS CANNOT BE NEAR THE HEADQUARTERS! YOUR INCOMPETENCE IS STARTING TO ANNOY ME, COMMANDER!" he shrieked.  
  
The commander shook its head. "I'm doing this job to the best of my ability, sir. Has it ever entered into your head that the Rad-Cats could be more skilled at doing this sort of thing?"  
  
Korbi nodded his head, slowly. "Yes, it has," he said quietly, reaching under the desk and pressing something.  
  
That was the last thing the robot ever saw. Within seconds, a mysterious energy field materialized where the commander was standing. The greenish-white field made short work of the robot, gears and all. Within seconds, the machine disappeared into oblivion.  
  
"Robotic idiot," Korbi muttered. He reached into his desk and pulled out a remote. With an evil smile plastered on his face, he pressed the button labeled "Activate".  
  
----  
  
Sylvia opened the front door cautiously, looking back and forth for any sign of metallic danger. Not seeing anything outside of some artificial plants, she stepped through the door. "All clear, guys," she whispered. "Come on----"  
  
Abruptly, some nearby voice sensors took note of the noise, and a group of box-shaped robots disassembled themselves from the wall. Fully formed, they suddenly opened fire.  
  
Flexing her fingers, Sylvia's claws popped out and began glowing. Jumping over the attack, she slashed apart one of the robots, sending the pieces into the ground like shrapnel. She proceeded to the next two robots and repeated the process.  
  
Teasy raised an eyebrow. "That sister of mine has no common sense, but plenty of attack power."  
  
Immediately, Daniel charged forward. Joining Sylvia, he joined fists with hers, and the two managed to deliver a crushing blow to robot #5. Then, reaching up with his left hand, Daniel's flamethrower came to life, igniting the artificial plants.  
  
"What is that kid doing?" DeeDee snarled. "He might set the whole lobby on fire!"  
  
"Beats me," Chico said in response.  
  
"Hey, guys!" Daniel shouted, his flamethrower turning off. "Look! Over here!"  
  
All at once, the 7 NYPC and R-C came dashing up, almost having to squeeze through the entrance hallway to do so. They approached Daniel cautiously and growled to themselves, unhappy at what he had been doing.  
  
Daniel responded by pointing a claw at once of the plants. "These plants aren't artificial. They're robotic voice sensors, linked to Korbi's office. They HAVE to be; otherwise, those robots wouldn't have attacked when Sylvia showed up!"  
  
Runner nodded as the thought occured to him, as well. "This way, Korbi can't call on reinforcements to come up from behind and trap us."  
  
Teasy and Sundance slowly nodded. "Thanks, Daniel," said Sundance.  
  
"Char!" Daniel replied in a high voice. Cosmo took a look at him, and the young bengal tabby chuckled nervously.  
  
Teasy rolled his eyes. "That craze has gotten out of control. Come on. Let's just go and deal with a craze of our own. One that doesn't involve cartoons."  
  
----  
  
The group split into two groups: The basic Rad-Cats and Sylvia formed one group, and the NYPC plus Alice formed another. The two groups journeyed throughout the first couple floors, taking out handily whatever resistance they met.  
  
At one point, when the two groups met again on the middle floor, Runner saw Sundance glancing at a nearby elevator, and walked over to find out what was going on. "Something up, Sundance?"  
  
Sundance slowly nodded. "Yes, I thought we'd do the old "climb up the line above the elevator to the top floor" routine again. It may be the oldest trick in the book, but it's the quickest way into Korbi's office, and----"  
  
His thoughts were interrupted by a distant clanging. At first, it sounded awfully quiet; but as it got closer, it started growing more and more thunderous.  
  
The noises were starting to agitate Sylvia. "Guys, what's going on here?" The vibrations rumbling through the area emphasized her question.  
  
Before anyone could answer, though, the wall directly behind her imploded. Jumping back and to the left, she barely managed to dodge in time. A spiked robotic tail swiped through the air where the Rad-Cat had been moments before.  
  
There was a pause. "What....was....THAT??" Chico half-yowled, half-snapped.  
  
The machine that nearly demolished them appeared out of the rubble a second later. It stood 9 feet tall, one foot shorter than the ceiling. Along with the spiked tail, the entire robot was built to resemble a Chinese dragon. It wore red armor plates and held a pair of blue orbs in its clawed hands. Short bursts of flames periodically burst from the robot's nostrils.  
  
"Well, if I didn't know better," exclaimed Cosmo, "this is the daily Cheese robot ready to waste us!"  
  
"It's to be expected from a rat-fox that dunks the coffee on the doughnut, instead of vice versa," Sylvia mused.  
  
Teasy turned his head, slightly to the left. His gaze fixed itself upon Daniel, who was staring at the robot with a puzzled expression upon his face. "Hey, bro. What are you looking like that for? Can't you see we have to get a move on?"  
  
Daniel didn't look up at him. "This robot seems kind of familiar....almost like it's out of a video game, or something...."  
  
"Well, if this is the daily robot, no reason to see why it shouldn't blow up like one," Runner growled. He tapped a button on his armored bracelet, releasing a pair of grenades straight into the armored body of the machine. The grenades erupted with the force expected from a pair of grenades-----  
  
-----and the robot remained unfazed. Stomping towards them, it tossed one of its blue orbs out onto the floor in front of them, forcing them to scatter as the orb exploded against the wall.  
  
"Okay, so it's NOT the daily robot," said Runner, shrugging his shoulders. The others glanced at him, then prepared themselves for battle.  
  
---------  
  
Cosmos #12 piloted his patrol over Central Park, wondering again how he had gotten himself into this situation. Why was it that HE always got the assignments that any half-wit pilot could handle besides him?  
  
Expressing a deep sigh, #12 double-checked the sensors. Again, there was nothing. "Those fools have done a very good job of camuflaging that transmitter," he hissed to himself.  
  
"Pick up on your visual scanning," Cosmos #7 snarled. "You must be blind, because that transmitter is DIRECTLY below you. There's a patch of dirt on there that looks like it's been moved not too long ago."  
  
Cosmos #12 manuevered the ship so it was going straight down, but only at half-speed. "So, what should I use? Missiles, or lasers?"  
  
"You heard what the New York Pizza Cat said," said Cosmos #9. "He said to leave the park as undamaged as possible. I would suggest using lasers."  
  
"Hotcha, Flight Officer," Cosmos #12 purred. Making sure his cannons were fully powered, he let loose with a volley of laser fire that tore into the ground before him.  
  
Sure enough, there was an explosion as metallic shrapnel was heaved against his ship. There was no need to dodge it; the Cosmos Fighter came equipped with a force field that prevented ballistic metals from touching it. #12 perked up and forced his ship back up to avoid a collision with the grass, then set his ship to autopilot for a few seconds. "Is that it?" he spoke into the radio.  
  
"That's it," Cosmos #7 confirmed. "The last of the defenses over where we are just shut themselves down. And, judging from the reports that we're picking up, the Pentagon has perked up again and are sweeping away the debris already."  
  
#12 turned his ship around. "So, it's on to Gorgonzola HQ to help out the Radicals?"  
  
"You got it," answered Cosmos #7. "Since the robotics facility is toast and that transmitter is gone, the only thing that's left for us to do is cover up Korbi's only escape route. After that, it's a quick stop at the jailhouse to free the cops, and then it's a quick trip back home. Oh, right; and some specialists to clean up the mess in Central Park."  
  
"YEE-HA!" Cosmos #11 shouted. For a moment, Cosmos #12 was almost tempted to rebuke him; but he understood the times, that these were times meant to celebrate. Pushing up the accelerator and deactivating the autopilot, he throttled towards the HQ.  
  
----  
  
The dragon repeated its charge, rolling forward at full speed. This time, it made contact; it caught Sundance and Teasy with a swipe of its claws, leaving them dazed and vulnerable.  
  
The robot was far tougher than anyone thought. It had successfully warded off attacks from Alice's EMP Frisbee, Daniel's Starcross Scatterbolts, and Sundance's "Ginzu" seven-shooter attack. The enigma of this machine was starting to worry the Rad-Cats.  
  
"Man," Chico moaned, wiping his forehead clean of perspiration. "What's it going to take to send this bucket of bolts to the scrap heap?"  
  
"There is no way to defeat it!" the voice of Chester Korbi roared over the public-address system. "It is invincible! It is made of the finest metals and materials known in the world! You can attempt to destroy it, but you do so at your own risk!"  
  
The leaders of the two groups shook their heads dizzily, then returned to the real world. "Well, guys," hissed Teasy, "I'm open to suggestions."  
  
Runner stepped forward----which was a bad thing, in Daniel's opinion. "Uh-oh," he murmured. "Time for the Super-Cat of Super-Cats to flex his muscles."  
  
Runner slowly nodded. "I'm certain a number of you have never seen my Maelstrom in action," he explained just as slowly.  
  
At that moment, one of the robot's clawed hands began to swipe at him. Calmly raising up one paw, Runner grabbed it in mid-swipe, strained for a second, then snapped it off.  
  
----  
  
Korbi stared at the viewscreen, aghast. "What....? No cat could do that!"  
  
----  
  
"Stand back," Runner warned, tossing the hand aside. "This will get messy."  
  
He tapped a few buttons on his bracelet.....  
  
At first nothing seemed to happen. And then, DeeDee noticed, a small solar panel had appeared on the bracelet, absorbing the light provided by the florescent light bulbs up above.  
  
The dragon opened its mouth. "Runner, look out!" DeeDee heard Cosmo snap----  
  
DeeDee acted quickly. Yanking the Kitty Whip free, she used it as a lasso to keep the dragon from attacking again with its dragon breath. The robot struggled, but simply could not break free of the choke-hold.  
  
Daniel whistled. "Nice move, miss. Except, I see one problem...."  
  
"What's that?" DeeDee asked, a bit upset by his interruption.  
  
"Well, if you keep the dragon from shooting any fire, the flamethrowers inside the mouth are going to overload. And, if it overloads...."  
  
"Then the whole thing will explode," Runner snapped, cutting off his brother. "I know that. Maelstrom, however, should be strong enough to take care of it before it----"  
  
A beeping sound from his right bracelet cut him off. "Alright, guys," he shouted, "this is it!"  
  
Runner tapped another button, allowing the bracelet to glow silver as its power began to build. "This was all just the first stage. The second stage is....NOW."  
  
Runner's right arm, from the elbow on down, was glowing a bright silver. DeeDee unwrapped the Whip from the dragon's mouth; and, taking the cue, he dashed forward and threw his fist in front of him, releasing the stored solar energy. The energetic laser spun in a complete spiral and struck the robotic dragon square in the chest.  
  
------  
  
Korbi had to shield his eyes with his sleeve in order to block out the intense light. "Those security cameras really need better light filters," he muttered. As soon as the light faded away, he glanced over at the viewscreen.  
  
Most of the parts of his most powerful robot to date was still intact. However, the keyword there was "most". Runner Melika's attack had blasted open a hole in its chest, exposing the dosage of heavy circuitry and wires given to the machine. The eye cover had been destroyed, as well. Slowly, the robot resumed a fighting stance, getting a solid grip on the stored energy it was holding.  
  
Still, right now, he had to enjoy the reactions on each of their faces. "Surprised, eh? Well, don't be. You'd have to---"  
  
At that moment, the robot collapsed on the ground without any warning, simply falling apart. A second later, other parts of the armor plating flaked off, weakening its own defenses. And, just like that, the reactions of the Rad-Cats and New York Pizza Cats changed from confusion to joy.  
  
At first, Korbi didn't understand. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU INFERNAL DRAGON?! GET UP AND FIGHT!"  
  
Sundance saw an opening, and took it. Taking out his seven-shooter, he powered up his "Ginzu" sequence, his weapon glowing with pink energy. Moving super-quickly, the laser blast that was fired pierced the robot clean through, rendering it unusable in seconds.  
  
Korbi pounded his desk with a violent rage, slowly glowing red. He was interrupted, however, by his telephone ringing. Slowly regaining his bearings, he picked it up. "Chester Korbi speaking. Who is this? Things aren't very good for me right now, and----"  
  
A frightened voice almost screamed over the line, one that Korbi recognized. "Korbi, your plan's a bust!" Shana Cheese shrieked. "There's a Cosmos fighter hovering right outside my window, and no one's doing anything about it!"  
  
"Then YOU do something about it!" Korbi yelled back. "Use the deactivation weapons I provided you in emergencies!"  
  
"THAT'S a bust, too!" Shana snapped. "One laser blast....I repeat, ONE....took out the entire dresser that I had, destroying everything that was in there! And, just for good measure, it demolished the vault that contained the rest of----"  
  
Shana was interrupted by what was probably a searing laser blast. Over the telephone, Korbi faintly heard the words: ".....false.....and this.....gonna....up..."  
  
Then the line went dead. "SHANA?!" Korbi barked. "SHANA?!"  
  
After a few more minutes, he realized that he would get no further response. Angrily, he slammed the phone down. "Well, he who fights, and runs away, lives to fight another day!" He started to make a run for the door----  
  
A maroon flash erupted in front of him. A minute later, he found himself driven away from the door, which was blocked by a massive wall of fire. "Game over, man," he heard Daniel Melika, who was standing right behind the fire wall, purr. "Game over. Whatcha gonna do now?"  
  
"Not yet, it isn't!" Korbi snarled, spinning away from the fire and racing for the window-----  
  
"Not another step," a voice purred.  
  
The image of a Cosmos Starfighter dropped in front of Korbi's window. "It's all over, Cheese," the pilot of the craft said darkly. "Now, surrender yourself peacefully."  
  
"It's either that, or I'm going to start a barbeque here in your office," Daniel chimed in.  
  
"I won't let you take care of me that easily," Korbi growled, becoming rageful. He barked into his intercom system. "All robots, attack!"  
  
However, instead of hearing confirmation orders from the robots that should be situated around the city, he heard only a maddening silence. "Your 'bots won't be able to help you anymore," the Cosmos pilot said, his purring becoming louder. "Less than a couple minutes ago, we located your transmitter in Central Park and promptly put it out of commission. And, 7 minutes before that, your 'Robocop' facility met the same fate. The long and short of it is: your continental quest is all over, Cheese-breath. Either face the facts or freak out. Either way, you make my job a lot easier."  
  
"Medium, rare, or well-done?" Daniel asked. "Reason I ask is because I prefer MY burgers rare." He tapped a small green button on the side of his left flamethrower.  
  
Through the flames, Korbi saw the rest of the Rad-Cats and the New Yorkers appear behind him, and they appeared fully ready to back the statements of the Cosmos pilot. He decided to deny them this pleasant opportunity. "Lose or win, you will NOT take me!" Korbi howled, slowly glowing red.  
  
Daniel's eyes widened. "He's going to overload! Run for it!"  
  
Everyone raced out the door, Cosmo slamming the door behind him. The pilot of the Cosmos fighter must've been thinking along the same lines, because he immediately turned tail and fled, as well. A wing of other fighters billowed out behind him, racing for the horizon.  
  
Korbi mused, his internal servometers slowly ticking towards the breaking point.   
  
-----  
  
For a moment, the Ninja Crow looked a bit confused as the Radical Bomber lifted off and streaked into the distance. Looking out towards where Gorgonzola International HQ was, he saw 6 distinct aircraft heading towards his general location like eagles. "Alright, what's going on?" he wondered aloud.  
  
In the distance, he spotted a brief flare of light. Minutes later, the Radical Bomber re-appeared, surrounded by the other 6 aircraft in escort formation. Clinging onto the wings of the transport were the Rad-Cats, with the exception of Teasy, and the New York Pizza Cats, minus Sundance.  
  
The second that the aircraft touched down and the boarding ramp lowered to the ground, the Crow was running towards the craft. "Hey, you guys! Y'all okay?"  
  
Teasy and Sundance walked down from inside the Bomber, grins plastered on their faces. "Yeah, we're fine," said Teasy. "We got nicked in a couple of places, but its nothing that Aldonza's medical skills can't cure."  
  
Sundance nodded. "Your job here is done, Crow. You can go on back to the Flying Skull. And when you see Jerry Atrick, send him my regards."  
  
The Crow nodded. "What happened to Korbi?"  
  
"Went up like fireworks when his whole scheme tottered and fell in front of him," said the voice of Cosmos #7. The 6 ships hovered in the air above the NYPC's pizza parlor, engines flaring and ready to go. "His strength is down to the point where he couldn't even struggle when the rescued cops copped him. We stayed long enough to learn that they're going to put him in a cell next to Chester Cheddar, and then we went back here. As for that one other family member he was talking with.....I dropped her off at the police station personally."  
  
Teasy paused. "And as for the rest of the family? Are they still running loose?"  
  
There was a long pause; and abruptly, both cats and crow could hear the pilots laughing over Teasy's radio. "We are thorough, Rad-Cat," said Cosmos #7, still snickering. "We used our Quad Bursts to seal off any way of escaping the HQ. All the Cheese family members got trapped in there, and became easy pickings when the police cleared away the debris. All the robots are being taken apart to salvage anything useful." The pilot finally stopped laughing. "We sent some fiscal aid down into the States to help rebuild the damage they sustained, and the robots there are being cleared away, as well. The Super-Cats from the backup branch are being treated as I speak." The cat paused his monologue. "The Cheese Crime Mafia has been demolished like Boston Garden. You guys won't have to worry about those living time bombs anymore."  
  
Sundance smiled again. Against the odds, the good side of the battle had triumphed. "Thanks for your help, Super-Cats," he said quietly. "Are your jobs here done?"  
  
"As done as they ever will be," murmured Teasy. "Guess we'd better get going; as far as I know, there's still a crisis in Little Tokyo." He smiled again. "Great. I'm starting to sound like Francine and Abigail."  
  
"See you around, Teasy Melika," said Sundance. "Thanks again for----"  
  
"Hey, guys," Alice's nervous voice piped up.  
  
Sundance and Teasy both looked up at the Radical Bomber; the other members of their groups were hanging on tight to the wings of the transport. "Would you please get us down?" they all said in unison.  
  
Teasy and Sundance looked up at their compadres, then at each other, then burst out laughing. 


	20. The Meaning of Power

20: The Meaning of Power  
  
  
The strength of unconsciousness....  
  
The swirling darkness......  
  
The danger of oblivion......  
  
The crushing pain.....  
  
The sense of power.....  
  
The light of hope.....  
  
  
  
--------  
  
Felonia, still distraught, sat against her pillows. She was still too badly hurt to go anyplace, so she was momentarily stuck in a hospital room. "Well, anyways, there you have it," she muttered. "The entire life history of one Felonia Jase, upset kitten and one-cat Ginyu Force. The story of a yellow tabby who has never gotten anything good out of life."  
  
Francine shook Felonia's shoulders. "Stop saying things like that! You can still have a good life, provided that you leave Chaos Kitten and rejoin us!"  
  
Felonia sighed. "But I just can't leave----"  
  
She spotted something out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head to get a full view of what was going on, and saw the gray cat standing by the window, trembling violently. "What's...happening...?"  
  
At this point, both Felonia and Francine noticed the black gaseous mist drifting through the air. It seemed to be having some effect on the gray cat....  
  
Suddenly, the gray cat gasped, and slammed both paws against the windowsill. "....So that's what happened to me!" she murmured, her anxiety building. Looking frantic, she dived towards the general direction of the other bed. "I've got to get down there and help them out!"  
  
Francine was puzzled. "What?"  
  
The cat looked back at them; her face was a mixture of pain and determination. "Don't you get it? Wildcat's been without me for nearly a year, and he can't go without me much longer, or else he'll go insane with rage!"  
  
She grabbed a duffel bag, took some stuff out of it, then turned into a gray blur and disappeared. Felonia stared after her, muttering something unintelligible. Francine, meanwhile, just looked at the general direction the gray cat had taken, eyes wide. "That was her!"  
  
Felonia looked out the corners of her eyes. "So you finally figured it out, huh?" She pulled the blankets back over her face, muttering, hoping to fall asleep.  
  
-----  
  
Carlos Cosmos brought his starfighter in for a landing in the Palace courtyard. Opening it and leaving his flight helmet and sunglasses on his seat, he vaulted out and trudged into the Palace, hoping for at least an hour's rest before continuing the fight.  
  
Unfortunately, he discovered soon, he wasn't going to have any time to sleep. Almost immediately, as soon as he walked in through the door, he heard a cry from one of the closets farther down the hall. Suspicious, he dashed down the hall and, upon reaching the door that the noise was coming from, he attempted to open it.  
  
The door, he found out, was locked; not wasting any time, he blasted the handle of the door off with his disintegration gun, instead. Putting the gun away, he then opened the door and found an unusual sight: Princess Violet, tied to a chair in the center of the closet.  
  
"You okay back there?" asked Carlos, looking in both directions warily to be sure that nothing bad was watching him.  
  
"I'm upset, but other than that, I'm fine," snapped Vi. "Where were you when Chaos Kitten dragged me in here?"  
  
"I was out blasting one of the Land-Air Eggs that were attacking the city, senorita," Carlos replied. "After all, my starfighter piloting IS my day job."  
  
"That fool stole my sword," Vi said angrily, "and I have to get it back so I can send him clear to Extras Island! I have----"  
  
"Fa-red," someone said.  
  
Carlos turned around, his fur standing on end; and then, almost without any subtle warning, it relaxed; it was only Emperor Fred, staring right at him. "Fred," he said again.  
  
"Greetings, Your Majesty," said Carlos, and then turned to getting Vi loose from her ropes.  
  
Immediately, as soon as the Princess was free, she dashed down the hall. "VIOLET!" Carlos yelled after her, then dropped his arms to his sides in despair. "Why do I even bother?"  
  
"Fa-red," answered Fred, waving his fans around. At one point, he pointed one of his fans at a small box in the closet.   
  
Carlos pulled it out and began a close examination. Realizing what it was, he dashed towards the nearest open window and tossed it out. While it was still in the air, he drew his disintegration gun and fired it at full power. A second later, there was nothing left of the "box" but a few particles of dust that blew away on the next gust of wind.  
  
Emperor Fred continued his riot act, even as Carlos signaled his fighter via remote control.  
  
-------  
  
Speedy, Guido, Polly, and GB stood in front of a dented-but-otherwise-undamaged Goliath. "You pompous jerk," Speedy yelled. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!"  
  
Chaos Kitten regained his bearing long enough to smile. "You'll find him dropped to the ground like a piece of discarded trash," he purred. "Best of all, there's nothing that you can do to help him. I don't know how you're able to get up and fight after I knock you down, but I'll worry about that later....AFTER I cream you."  
  
"We'll just see about that," GB cawed, "when we----"  
  
There was a massive rumbling noise from behind them. "Are you ready, Pizza Cats?" a mechanical voice boomed.  
  
One by one, each of the Pizza Cats turned around. Each of their expressions turned to shock. "I....can't believe it!" Polly said to herself, her eyes wide in wonder.  
  
"Don't you remember?" asked Guido, gazing at it. "Curtis said that he was going to get it repaired. Still, I don't believe he was able to get it finished THAT quickly."  
  
"What are you talking about?" laughed Chaos Kitten. "That huge metallic piece of junk can't be the Supreme Catatonic---nothing but a cheap imitation! Everyone knows that hunk of junk was destroyed by the comet!"  
  
"Yeah. So?" GB said in response. "That doesn't mean it can't be rebuilt."  
  
The huge robot, still in sphinx form, opened its mouth, dispatching the three lean, mean, fighting machines known as the Goonie Birds. The 3 birds burst apart, the seperate pieces of armor adding on to the Cats' own, complete with face masks. That done, what was left of the birds latched onto the Cats' backs and formed the nifty power packs that gave them more energy to fight, as well as the ability to fly. Now, they were no longer simply the Samurai Pizza Cats; they were the EXTRA TOPPING Samurai Pizza Cats! "THAT answer your question, C.K.?" Polly yelled at the kid terrorist sitting in the Goliath.  
  
Chaos Kitten laughed again; but everyone clearly saw that he was only trying to dish out some bravado. "No, it doesn't," he chuckled.  
  
The Pizza Cats turned around again, watching the sphinx transform into its true form. Parts slid aside to form new parts; the sphinx's head attached to the back, letting the other head take its place; legs and arms fully formed; pylons and body armor fully formed; and the red jewel nestled in the robot's forehead, with the little cat inside of it----"Mew!"----the robot landed feet-first on the ground and flexed its arms, ready to dish out some action. A golden flare of light exploded from the robot's chest and absorbed Polly and Guido, who flew into the robot without any other noise. This time, Speedy and GB watched them go in, then turned their attention back to the Vile Goliath.  
  
And Chaos Kitten was no longer laughing. "Okay, NOW I'm mad," he growled. "Obviously, that fool Curtis was able to rebuild it....but no matter. I'll STILL turn it into dust!"  
  
With that, he put the robot in Charge Mode, throwing it forward at full blast----  
  
-----and a black blur appeared out of nowhere and bounced on top of the robot----  
  
----something lashed out at Chaos Kitten, throwing his mind off course and skewing the robot, crashing it into an abandoned building----  
  
----and a dark figure landed in front of the Pizza Cats, sword drawn.  
  
Chaos Kitten had the robot back on its feet in an instant and leaped out of the wreckage. "ALRIGHT! WHO'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?!?"  
  
"Keep your mouth closed, and listen to the music, Chaos Mouth," someone hissed.  
  
Speedy and the others looked at the dark figure. Of course----they knew who this was. It was the same one who almost singlehandedly brought the house down on the A.L.D. It was the same one who shut the door on evil.....as the most powerful feline on the planet.  
  
"Ladies and gentlemen," the figure chuckled, "may I introduce the champion of Super-Cats, the one and only....me. Grand...."  
  
"Admiral...." the SPC said in unison.  
  
Chaos Kitten screamed. "WILDCAT!"  
  
Wildcat winked and replied in a voice that could be construed as annoying. "Me-owth! That's right!"  
  
Polly looked down towards Speedy, and slowly shook her head. "NOW do you know why I dislike the whole craze in the first place?"  
  
"Are you saying I should get rid of the Pikachu T-shirt sitting in the closet?" Speedy replied.  
  
Polly turned her face away from him and back towards the robot, visibly irritated. Up where the action was, the evil-doer was raving. "You are just not human! NOTHING could've survived what I threw at you!"  
  
"Of course I'm not human," said Wildcat. "I'm a cat. And as for how I survived what you clobbered me with? Let me say it like this. As a Super-Cat, one phrase sums up my whole crime-fighting career: you can bash 'em, thrash 'em, even crash 'em, but they just won't go away." He turned towards the Supreme Catatonic. "BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY!" he screeched.  
  
A bright red light, similar to the light that enveloped Speedy on his first trip inside the Catatonic, surrounded him, and he disappeared in a flash. Speedy and GB took a look at the red jewel, expecting him to show up. He did, replacing the little white cat that had been there before.  
  
------  
  
Wildcat became aware of a new sensation: feeling like he was on top of the world. Inside the red jewel of the Catatonic, the same place that Speedy had stood when he totaled the comet, he could sense everything going on directly in front of and behind the robot. Beneath him in the robot's core surged a million impulses, awaiting Wildcat's command.  
  
Unsure, Wildcat lifted up Shape-Shifter and pulled it out. Following the reflexive command, the robot pulled free the Fish Sword, allowing both ends to burst free. The honed blades of the skeletal Fish Sword gleamed in the light as the tail and head of the fish disappeared.  
  
Chaos Kitten gave a furious roar, and put the robot in Charge Mode again. Sensing the incoming danger, Wildcat swung his sword. Down below, the Catatonic swung the Fish Sword, impacting it against the Vile Goliath and causing it to stumble. "Yes!" Wildcat shouted. "Power Rangers, eat your heart out!"  
  
"I believe I had warned you not to use that sword in conjunction with anything," Chaos Kitten snapped, righting the robot and stepping back a few paces. "You have just made a grievous error." He raised a small remote control, and tapped a red button labeled "Activate".  
  
Speedy looked up at the face of the Catatonic. "I don't hear anything making a bang. How about you guys?"  
  
"Nothing from this direction," Guido commented. Polly and GB voiced their own versions of that line, as well.  
  
Chaos Kitten looked puzzled. He pushed the button again a few more times, then tossed it away in disgust. "Why won't that blasted detonator explode?"  
  
"Probably because the link's been severed," Wildcat said. "Via the Catatonic's radio, I picked up a signal from my best pilot. According to him, he wasted a 'small box' with his disintegrator. Said he found it in a closet in the Palace."  
  
"One small box down," hissed C.K., "and ONE TO GO!" As he tapped the purple button on the robot that ordered it to go to full power, he thought he saw a black shadow out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slightly, he searched again; but the motion wasn't repeated.  
  
Wildcat decided to take this opportunity to strike. Holding his sword straight in front of him, he initiated a motion that ordered the Catatonic to go into its "own" Charge Mode. Perfect timing; right on cue, the other robot also went into Charge Mode. However, there seemed something different about the Goliath....  
  
His suspicions were answered minutes later. As both robots strained with their hands pressed together, a trio of laser cannons appeared on the robot's chest that weren't there before. Wildcat turned his head slightly. "Guido, quick! PRESS THE WHITE BUTTON RIGHT ABOVE YOU!!"  
  
Guido must've had an excellent sense of timing; Wildcat thought he could sense the **ting** as a special feature on the Catatonic was activated. As this was done, the 3 laser cannons on the Goliath opened fire----  
  
----but none of the green shots that were fired fazed the Catatonic; instead, they deflected off a yellow-ish white force field put in place around the robot.  
  
GB gazed at the robot, surprised. "Don't tell me that Wildcat's technicans put a shield on there!"  
  
"They put a shield on there," said Speedy, yawning.  
  
"I told you not to tell me that," GB muttered. Becoming bored, he decided to count the bricks that were knocked free from one of the surrounding buildings.  
  
"Surprise, Chaos!" Wildcat yelled, firing an energy blast from his sword. Almost immediately, the end of the Fish Sword started glowing, and then fired a yellow blast of its own into the Vile Goliath. The sheer power of the blast blasted open one of the consoles on the Goliath, as well as causing some minor damage to the robot's superstructure.  
  
"Very good!" Chaos yowled, his anger reaching the boiling point. "You just manage to deflect 3 of my more powerful lasers, and was able to make a dent in the armor of my prize! Now, how would you like to go up against the most powerful weapon in my arsenal?"  
  
Through the Catatonic's video cameras, Wildcat looked down at Polly and Guido. Guido was in his normal spot inside the robot, holding a cup of soda in one hand. Polly was also in her usual spot, visibly relaxed and even singing to herself.  
  
Wildcat then looked down at Speedy and GB. Speedy was singing something softly to himself, likewise; probably something from Billy Joel, but he couldn't be sure. GB was tallying up the number of bricks dislodged from damaged buildings. At last, he turned his head back towards Chaos Kitten. "Go ahead, hot stuff. We're ready for you!"  
  
C.K. shrugged. "Alright. You asked for it!"  
  
He pushed a series of levers below him on the floor of the seating area, which opened up a new panel on the right side of consoles. Chaos Kitten pushed the switch to full power, causing a massive power upsurge. The right fist on the Goliath withdrew, and a massive laser cannon appeared in its place. As it drew its power, the whole robot started glowing purple.  
  
Guido and Polly both snapped out of their relaxed state. Guido hurriedly checked the readings the Catatonic was getting. "Wildcat, that robot is charging up enough power to disintegrate this city with one hit!"  
  
"What else is new?" Wildcat asked, holding his sword in front of him, downwards and at a 45 degree angle. The Supreme Catatonic followed suit. "Trust me....I know what I'm doing!"  
  
"Yeah, right," C.K. shouted back. "Alright, Wildcat. Get ready for destruc-----"  
  
----What seemed to be a black cannonball launched from one of the buildings that was still intact. It bounced off the curve leading up to the cockpit, then landed. Suddenly, C.K. found himself yanked out of his seat and thrown towards the ground. He was still able to get a 3-point landing; but what he saw surprised him.  
  
A large, stocky Black Maine Coon longhair was perched on the back of the Goliath, his eyes glowing with stored power. "Get ready for a SHOCK to your system!" the cat yelled, throwing both sets of claws into the wrecked console-----  
  
-----a long, electrical current pulsed from the black feline and into the working systems of the Vile Goliath----  
  
----the robot stopped glowing, and internal explosions began blowing massive holes in the armor of the robot----  
  
----the black cat was thrown to the ground, obviously hurt----  
  
The Vile Goliath, once one of the strongest weapons known, had gone down, a casualty of Ambush Cat's T.S.D., or Total Static Discharge, Attack.  
  
Ambush Cat struggled to his feet and glared at Chaos Kitten angrily. "That...." he managed to hiss, "was for....Francine!" With that, he collapsed on the ground, unconscious.  
  
Wildcat turned his head and yelled down at Speedy. "That attack just blew some holes in the Goliath's armor. Finish it off! GB, you grab Amush Cat and get him out of here!"  
  
Speedy nodded, going into his Cat's Eye Slash sequence. "ONE GINZU SPECIAL COMING UP....HII-YAAH!" he shouted as he hurled the deadly bolt, amplified by his power pack, into the internal workings of the robot. Like many robots before, the robot blew itself into pieces, leaving smoldering wreckage behind. He looked at GB, just to see if Ambush Cat had made it; and just by looking at him, he was able to tell that the trickster was still breathing.  
  
Guido looked at Polly. "I think that cat just did Zero proud."  
  
Polly shook her head. "He wasn't trying to destroy himself along with the robot. Before he attacked, he shuffled across a surface capable of conducting electricity...REAL FAST, too; probably around Mach 3. He was totally charged with electricity. It wasn't that which knocked him out; it was the fact that the robot was destroying itself from the inside out."  
  
Guido looked surprised. "Is that all a guess, or is it for real?"  
  
Polly laughed. "It's for real, Guido. Back before that plane crash in the park last year, he demonstrated that attack in a practice session. Has enough power to stun even Godzilla."  
  
Guido slowly nodded his head in realization, then looked back down at the scene below.  
  
-----  
  
Chaos Kitten drew the sword that he taken from the Princess, fuming. "Come on down here, Wildcat," he shouted towards the Catatonic. "This one's between you and me!"  
  
"Gladly," Wildcat purred. He turned his head a fraction of a few degrees. "Cougar-Brains, Release," he uttered, transmitting the code to release him from the red jewel. He disappeared in a flash of light; then reappeared before C.K., his sword fully drawn. No one noticed that the little white cat had reappeared; they just wanted to see the impending showdown.  
  
"I gave that sword to the Princess," Wildcat hissed. "If you lose, you'd better give it back."  
  
"On the contrary," C.K. shot back. "Even if I lose, I'm keeping it with me."  
  
Wildcat laughed half-heartedly. "You'd better be prepared for a world of nightmares, then."  
  
Chaos Kitten just glared at him. "The same to you, Super-Cat. EN GARDE!!"  
  
Both cats charged forward. 


	21. The Cat Gets the Cat

21: The Cat Gets the Cat  
  
  
Jerry Atrick, in the hills slightly beyond Little Tokyo where everything remained quiet, sat silently, contemplating the battle that was now, before him, being sent to his television via a video camera installed in the Catatonic. At his left side, the telephone on the lampstand started ringing, and he answered it. "Jerry Atrick," he said quietly.  
  
"Master Atrick, this is Lenny Mar----"  
  
"Is this the report of the happenings on Manhattan Island?" Jerry interjected.  
  
"Why yes, it is," Lenny answered. "Wildcat's Super-Cats, as well as the NYPC, have successfully dealt with the Cheese Crime Mafia here in New York. The Mafia's been jailed, and all those on Wildcat's side that participated are on their way back to Little Tokyo now."  
  
Jerry nodded. "Excellent. See to it that the original mayor is reinstalled in office, then return to the Flying Skull. There are some things I wish to discuss."  
  
"Certainly, Master Atrick," Lenny said. "Bye."  
  
As the two of them hung up, Jerry looked again towards the television screen; the 2 participants in the battle had finally decided to launch their full powers at each other. "The powers collide," Jerry muttered to himself. "Though you fight with all your power, there are those as of yet unseen. They are the key. Trust not just in your strength; but also in the powers of others. Heed wise advice, and survive."  
  
"Excuse me, Master Atrick?" a crow said from outside Atrick's house. "You say something?"  
  
Jerry shook his head. "Nothing of importance."  
  
------  
  
There was still a mild anxiety running through the citizens of Little Tokyo; that much the figure could sense. But still, things were much calmer than they were 6 hours ago. It was quite obvious that Curtis Wildcat had succeeded in bringing most of the situation under control.  
  
Now, the figure decided, it was time to take action against the head of Little Tokyo's conspiracy.  
  
With a rush, she started walking as fast as she could, towards the spot where Wildcat and Chaos Kitten were now engaged in a full-blown battle.  
  
She didn't see the robed figure behind her, trailing her towards destiny itself.  
  
------  
  
Wildcat took offense first, slashing at C.K. In response, the younger cat parried the attack, then offered a series of super-quick counter-attacks. Wildcat easily blocked those, then leaped in order to avoid a slash at the knees.  
  
Speedy yawned. "Great fight."  
  
GB looked at him. "It's a whole lot better than you think it is," he said. "The outcome of this sword-play determines the fate of not just this city, but possibly even the entire planet."  
  
Speedy waved his hand, ignoring him. "Boring....so boring...."  
  
"What's so boring about it?" asked Polly from her spot in the Catatonic.  
  
"Simple," Speedy explained. "I've seen a lot of sword dances and been in a lot of sword fights myself. I have simply never seen 2 sword fights that are different."  
  
"You haven't been in action as long as I have, Speedy," GB answered. "I faced a lot of those in my early days in the Flying Skull. Then, of course, there were the fights I had against you, which took both of us to the limit at times. None of them were boring, and none of them were the same."  
  
"Well," Speedy yawned, "that's your viewpoint. Sword-play that doesn't involve me is boring in every sense of the word."  
  
He returned his attention to the fight, while GB just shook his head.  
  
-----  
  
"So, Wildcat, read any good books lately?" Chaos Kitten yelled, driving his sword hard against Wildcat's.  
  
"Just 'A Tail of Two Kitties'," Wildcat laughed. "One of those tails had a better ending than the other." He applied equal strength in return, then knocked C.K.'s sword away.  
  
"Let's see if you're still laughing once I do you in," C.K. snarled. He brought his sword back against Wildcat and pushed harder. Again, Wildcat applied equal pressure, and then knocked his sword away.  
  
"Just keep taunting me, wise guy," Wildcat chuckled. "I've been known to cream anyone who insults me enough."  
  
Wildcat went back on the offensive. He started slashing furiously from side to side, driving Chaos Kitten back against a wall. At that moment, C.K.'s sword turned into a tree branch.  
  
Wildcat blinked in confusion. "Huh?"  
  
Chaos shrugged. "Whoops. I was just thinking about how easy it would be to get you to leave, and it turned into this." He morphed it back to normal, and went back on the attack, forcing the other feline back out into the open.  
  
Dodging a pair of side swipes, Wildcat decided to make with the speed. "Very funny," he said, "but have you ever thought about what it might be like to make more than one of me leave?"  
  
C.K. blinked. This couldn't be happening; the sword-to-branch incident was enough for seemingly multiple copies of Wildcat to appear in front of him, diving in to attack before disappearing in a flash. A bit confused at first, he began spinning the sword in front of him to ward off any attacks----  
  
It was nearly 5 full seconds before he felt the sensation. However, when he did, he suddenly withdrew, nearly pulling Wildcat off balance. As the feline regained his composure and stopped his dashing, he noticed that Chaos Kitten was rubbing something on the back of his shoulder through his jacket. As he looked around to see who had done that, Wildcat at last saw what had been driving C.K. upset.  
  
---------  
  
Speedy stared at Wildcat; the Super-Cats' entire body had suddenly gone rigid. "What's with him?" he asked GB.  
  
The former Ninja Crow just shrugged. "Haven't a clue," he said. Instead, he thumbed at something going on behind him. "What I want to know is what the passer-by is doing this close to the scene of the battle."  
  
Speedy turned around, and saw the robed figure walking towards them. Growling, he jumped in front of her. "I'm afraid this is a restricted area, so please get going."  
  
The figure ignored him, and stepped right around him. This time, GB dived in front. "Whoever you are, he's serious," he snapped. "Please get away from here!"  
  
The figured side-stepped him, as well, and then picked up the pace a little. Speedy looked at GB and shrugged his shoulders, confused. "Don't know what to do."  
  
GB pointed down at a brick near his foot. "2,825....2,826...."  
  
-----  
  
C.K. yowled angrily. There was no doubt about it; the cat was angry. "If there's another word beyond the word 'mad', I don't know what it is," Guido murmured, monitoring C.K.'s energy levels from inside the Catatonic.  
  
Polly checked the readings. "Tell me about it," she said. "That cat's like a living bomb; he gets angrier and more powerful the more he's hit. At the moment, his power is nearly equal to Wildcat's."  
  
"Speaking of Wildcat, what's with him?" Guido asked. "He looks like he's seen a ghost and doesn't believe it."  
  
"Something else is out there," Polly muttered, checking the scanners. "And whatever it is, it has him frightened. I've never seen him so scared before."  
  
-----  
  
"That's right, you big black cat pelt," C.K. hissed. "You'd better be frightened, because you're going down!" He pulled his sword back, getting ready to swing-----  
  
And, abruptly, lost his grip on the sword as something slapped his paw aside. The sword went flying backwards and lodged itself in a wall. Snarling in disbelief, Chaos Kitten scampered back to pick it up.  
  
A purple-gloved fist beat him to it. Right before his paws reached the sword's handle, it flared brilliantly, morphing.  
  
-----  
  
GB looked at what the other sword had turned into. "Any idea what that is?" he asked Speedy. "I know it's a copy of Shape-Shifter, but what is it NOW?"  
  
Speedy shrugged. "Forgive me for watching too many medieval-type movies, but I'm willing to venture a guess and say that sword's become a carbon-copy of Excalibur."  
  
GB caught on to the plan. He looked at first the sword, and then Speedy, a slow smile appearing on the edges of his beak. "Actors, queue the hopefulness."  
  
Speedy smiled back. For the first time since the battle started, he was now certain of everything falling into play.  
  
-----  
  
Immediately, when the sword finished morphing, Chaos Kitten tried to grab it and yank it out of the stone wall that it had embedded itself in. However, try as he might, he simply did not have the strength to get it out. It's new Excalibur form was permenantly stuck in the wall, as far as he was concerned.  
  
Slowly, he turned and faced Wildcat, ignoring the robed figure. "CURSE YOU!" he screamed. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS, SIR HAIRY!" He propelled himself forward, claws and teeth bared.  
  
Wildcat didn't even bother to step out of the way as a gray paw impacted against Chaos Kitten, throwing him off to the side.  
  
-----  
  
"Quickly!" Guido said to Polly. "We got get one of the hands in place!"  
  
As she pressed several buttons on the left side of the control area, one of the robotic hands of the Supreme Catatonic moved, catching C.K. neatly as he spiralled towards them.  
  
Wildcat looked up towards them and gave them a thumbs-up. "Nice catch," he said. "Now, what say you do something with him while you still have him in your grasp?"  
  
C.K. tried to squirm free of the Catatonic's grip, but even his high-toned strength was no match for the force of the Supreme Catatonic. Unable to escape, he just dropped his paws and growled, defiant to the end.  
  
"So much for your bid for hostile world takeover," Wildcat shouted at him. "Polly, let's give us a fastball, here!"  
  
"My pleasure!" Polly's voice rang out from the Catatonic. "He deserves this for crushing us beneath that wall!" Winding up, the Supreme Catatonic hurled Chaos Kitten westward with the full force of a cruise missile being launched. Surprisingly enough, the young terrorist didn't even scream; he simply vanished in the distance, leaving behind nothing that proved he existed.  
  
Nothing, except the ruins of half the city of Little Tokyo.  
  
------  
  
Wildcat visibly calmed down, his fur receding back to the normal calico patterns. "FINALLY," he said aloud. "It's over." He glanced over at the brown-robed figure, who was staring at the re-morphing sword in the wall. The sword changed back to normal, and the figure pulled it out of the wall. "Who are you?" Curtis asked, his voice normal as well.  
  
The figure spoke for the first time since its arrival. "What, you haven't figured it out yet?" She pulled back the hood on her cloak.....  
  
Curtis slowly dropped to the ground, the energy it took to maintain his transformation draining out of him. "Princess Violet," he whispered quietly. "I should've known."  
  
"I had to get my sword back," Vi replied. "This seemed like the most....how should I say it?.. LEGITIMATE way of getting back."  
  
"And what about the other one?" Speedy asked. "Who's she?"  
  
Curtis glanced at the other figure, who was slowly walking towards him. He activated the comlink built into his sword and spoke into it. "Mu 2, Activate. I need a full DNA scan of this person right here. Match with any available records." He pointed the handle of the sword at the other cat, who had stopped walking and was eyeing him suspiciously.  
  
The search didn't last more than 3 seconds. "According to tail length, DNA structure, fur color, and various abilities, this cat may very well be someone you recognize," Mu 2 intoned, chuckling a little.  
  
"Wha...." Curtis wasn't too sure how to react. She did seem awfully familiar, but just who was Mu 2 talking abou-----  
  
Abruptly, his mind did a flashback to the conversation he had those weeks before at the top of Mount Coochie. Making sure, Curtis matched up the traits that the Great Warrior had given him with the person standing before him.  
  
"Medium-length black hair...." Curtis noticed that the other cat's hair was nearly shoulder-length.  
  
"Likes the color gray...." The other cat's fur was gray in color. Her jeans were the same color, and her sweater was half-gray, half-white.  
  
"One-eighth of a cubit taller than you...." The other cat was that exact height.  
  
Something was missing, though; it had nothing to do with genetic traits. Something was missing; the JOY that this cat once had was gone. In its place were a set of emotional scars, invisible to the eye. Curtis realized why: she had survived a nightmare world for nearly 10 whole months. She had no memory of her past, no way of knowing who knew her, and no way of being normal. That was, up until now. She had been through the fire, but outside of those scars, she had survived unscathed.  
  
Such was as a Super-Cat. "Shila....?" the calico breathed quietly.  
  
A bell rang from the speaker on the handle. "That is correct!" Mu 2 announced. "And for that correct answer, you have just earned yourself a new car!"  
  
"I appreciate the joke, Mu 2, but could you shut down the transmission?" Curtis asked quietly, his voice trembling a little.  
  
"Oh, sure," Mu 2 sniffed. "Leave out the supercomputer simply because he monitored Bob Barker yesterday." The transmission clicked off after he finished saying that.  
  
The gray cat walked towards Curtis, stopping a full 5 paces away from him. "Curtis, what I had said to you in France that made you angry.....I didn't mean it. I'm sorry."  
  
"I'm surprised you even remember all that," Curtis answered. "I accept your----"  
  
A voice rang out from the comlink on Curtis's sword. "Hey! What did the dentist give the marching band? A 'tuba toothpaste'!"  
  
"Enough with the jokes, Teasy," Curtis said. "And it took you long enough."  
  
"We ran into some old friends in Manhattan," Teasy responded, back in full comic form. "Are the Pizza Cats there? Could you patch me through?"  
  
Shila glanced over at Speedy and GB. "THESE are the so-called Pizza Cats?" she inquired.  
  
"Hey, don't forget about us!" Guido yelled from his post in the Supreme Catatonic.  
  
The golden beam of light shot out from the Catatonic's chest. Guido and Polly, still in Extra Topping mode, flew out of the robot and executed a landing next to Speedy and GB. The four glanced at each other, and then at Shila. Guido was the first to extend a hand. "So, you must be Shila! Nice to meet you!"  
  
Shila nodded, accepting the handshake. Looking back at Curtis, she said, "Since I don't seem to know some of the people here, would you mind if we went around the table and introduced ourselves?"  
  
Curtis's eyes widened at the insult, and he was just about to protest when he heard a distant roar. A second later, the remaining half of Cosmos Squadron and the Radical Bomber flew overhead, and the resulting wind shear just about knocked him over. He picked himself up and stared at Shila, shaking off the incident. "Same ol', same ol'," he said dryly. "Sure." He then turned his head and smiled at Princess Vi, who nodded her head and started walking back towards the Palace, sword in hand. She, too, had overcome her own obstacles to reclaim what was rightfully hers.  
  
------  
  
From where she was sitting in the hospital bed, Felonia had seen the entire taping of the battle between the Pizza Cats and Chaos Kitten. When the Catatonic tossed C.K. out west, she simply collapsed. "No...."  
  
Francine's voice piped up from the other bed. "Don't let it get to you. The Animal Legion of Doom was never interested in anything else besides their own power and prestige."  
  
Felonia stared at ceiling, tears welling up in her eyes. Francine had a point, of course, but she still didn't like it. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."  
  
"And, now that you're no longer part of the A.L.D., you're free to decide your own future," Francine continued. "You're old enough to get a job. What do you want to be?"  
  
Felonia thought. She wiped her tears away in order to fully concentrate on her thoughts. 


	22. Future of Town

22: Future of Town  
  
  
"So, what'll it be?" Polly asked.  
  
Curtis looked down at the various orders: the Rad-Cats had asked for a large mushroom-and-anchovie pizza and 2 bottles of Pepsi, while the two elderly goats sitting in the table behind them had asked for some Grecian salads and a pitcher of water. The Rude Noise, who had contributed to their share of destroyed enemy vehicles, had asked for a large pizza with all available toppings on it, plus double cheese. "The usual," he said. "One large pepperoni pizza and a medium glass of lemonade, and make sure Aldonza hurries."  
  
"Coming right up," Polly remarked cheerfully, turning on her heels and walking back into the kitchen and past the newly restored wall, which was put back up by Runner and Meowzma after the battle ended yesterday afternoon.  
  
Curtis, meanwhile, glanced down at his watch. Where WAS that cat?  
  
It took a few minutes, but she finally arrived: Felonia Jase. She looked a little worse for wear, but she seemed to be on the up and up. "Well, have you made up your mind?" Curtis asked.  
  
Felonia took a seat across from him. "With all due respect, Curtis," she said, "I think I'm better off OUT of your group. For one, there are some things I have to do, and I seriously don't feel....safe....around you and the others."  
  
"Well, with me around, that's to be expected," Curtis answered. He nodded. "Fine, then. That's your decision, and I'll respect it....of course, as long as you keep in touch."  
  
Felonia nodded, then stood up and took her leave of absence. Curtis yelled after her, "Hey! Don't forget lunch!"  
  
"Never mind," she called back. "I'll eat at Bat Cat's place, instead." She turned and hurried towards the general direction of Bat Cat's branch of the Pizza Cat chain.  
  
At that moment, Polly returned into the serving area, pizza and lemonade in tow. "Your lunch," she said. "That'll be $8.37."  
  
Curtis looked down at the finished pizza. "That was quick."  
  
"Aldonza used her laser beams to make the heating up go faster," Polly said. "I called Francine at the hospital yesterday night, and she agreed to have Aldonza stay on here as a permenant cook and waitress. Aldonza will be stopping by the hospital after we close to clear up Francine's injuries." She set the food on the counter in front of Curtis.  
  
The trio-colored cat handed over the cash, then took a glance at the wall behind Aldonza. SOMETHING was there...."Pssst, Polly. Look over on that wall over there. One shadow too many."  
  
Polly saw it too; but it was too late to warn Aldonza of the incoming trapper.  
  
-------  
  
Lucille, out on a stroll, glanced towards the Pizza Cat. For a moment, she thought she heard a scream. Increasing her pace, she hurried towards the pizzeria.  
  
After a few seconds, her suspicions were confirmed: she could clearly hear some yelling, something that sounded like: "AMBUSH CAT, YOU PSYCHOPATHIC FREAKAZOID, RELEASE MY TAIL FROM YOUR MOUTH BEFORE I HAVE TO SLAP YOU WITH IT!!!"  
  
Lucille shook her head. "And I had heard she was supposed to be friendly."  
  
"She is," someone commented from beside her in a Japanese accent.  
  
Lucille turned around, and saw a gray wolf with black eye circles and ear stripes sitting on a bench a few feet away. "Who are you?"  
  
"Name's Zapana Zquor," the wolf said. "I'm a good friend of Aldonza's, although it wasn't always that way."  
  
Lucille nodded, continuing her assessment of the wolf; the canine's 4 paws were all black, as was the tip of her tail, which remained in constant motion. In the meantime, Zapana continued talking. "Aldonza doesn't like it when Ambush Cat chomps down on her tail. A.C. can talk like normal people do and has a personality like normal people do, but he has the traits and figure of a cat. That means he likes to sneak up and pounce on people, and occasionally play tricks on them. To him, Aldonza's tail is nothing more than a chew toy."  
  
Lucille nodded, and turned to go; however, Zapana laid a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. "Lucille, I need to ask you something. I had heard that you go ballistic whenever someone makes you sad or upset. You think maybe you could demonstrate?"  
  
"I have to be in the mood for it," Lucille said, unsure of what the canine wanted.  
  
Zapana totally freaked out. "WHAT DO YA MEAN, YOU HAVE TA BE IN THE MOOD FOR IT?! EXPLODE, I'M TELLING YOU!!"  
  
Zapana's little emotional outburst was enough to push Lucille over the edge. The casing on her head opened up, releasing a barrage of missiles into the general area. Most of them connected safely away; a few made contact with the wolf. She coughed, her entire body smoking black, then fell onto the ground. "Thanks, Lucille. I just wasn't too sure if the rumors were true or not," she wheezed.  
  
"No problem. Appreciate you asking. You need some help getting up?"  
  
"I can take care of MYSELF, mind you. Thanks for asking, though." Zapana coughed a few times, then pulled herself back on the bench.  
  
"Glad to have met you," Lucille remarked with a polite smile. With that, she waved good-bye and headed back home, leaving behind the havoc she had caused.  
  
Ambush Cat came sailing into the street a few seconds later, a few pieces of white and orange fur still stuck on his teeth. Brushing them off, he stayed long enough to grin at Zapana, and then he dashed off towards the Mansion.  
  
--------  
  
Big Al Dente continued his nervous pacing of the Palace. Ever sense the city's vault had been cleaned out, he remained afraid that someone else would come along and finish the job. Without money, he was just not safe.  
  
Right when he passed the Council room, one of the vault's guards walked up to him. "Chief, we have something new to report."  
  
"Something new to report?" Al was a bit surprised at this news. "About what, our money condition?"  
  
"That's right, chief," the guard answered. "3 hours ago, when we last checked, the vault was totally empty. Then, about 15 minutes ago, we checked again, and the whole place was filled to the brim with cash!"  
  
Al stared at the guard, deep in thought. "We ought to have somebody look into this."  
  
In the meantime, Carlos Cosmos stood watching them from around a corner. While they continued their talk about how to find out who had restored the treasury, he turned and walked away, leaving them behind. Once he had turned the opposite hallway, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief that this mission was completed.  
  
------  
  
At last, the clock hit 12 noon, and everyone was able to relax for at least the next few minutes. Everyone took up spots around the kitchen, with the sole exception of a lunch-eating Curtis; and Chico and Daniel, unhindered, went on to detail the aftermath of Chaos Kitten's attack.  
  
"You mean, we have all our money back?" Speedy asked, disbelieving.  
  
"That's right," Aldonza said, nursing her tail at the spot where Ambush Cat had sunk his jaws in. "The Super-Cats' Infinite Defense requires a lot of money to keep in operation, a lot of which we've mined off of some uninhabited planets found in our general area. Fortunately, we've converted a lot of it into standard money found on Earth. We were able to send the exact amount that was lost back into Little Tokyo's treasury, and you'll find that your own accounts are also restored back to normal."  
  
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Curtis gulped down the last of his lunch. Satisfied, he got up and walked out the door, not even bothering to throw the pizza box away. "That reminds me," GB interrupted. "Where's Curtis going?"  
  
Chico shrugged. "I think he mentioned something about heading to Mt. Coochie," he said. "Although for what reason, I'm not sure."  
  
"And speaking of which, whatever happened to Chaos Kitten?" Daniel asked.  
  
Everyone looked first at Daniel, then at each other; then, as unison, they shook their heads. They didn't know; they probably wouldn't ever know.  
  
-------  
  
At last, pulling himself out of the blackness that he had gotten himself into, C.K. awoke. He looked around him, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his head and wondering just where on earth he was.  
  
It certainly wasn't anyplace he knew; he could tell that much by the medium-skinned humans walking around. He groaned; his memory told him that the Supreme Catatonic had hurled him out over the horizon like a baseball hit by Sammy Sosa; however, he had blacked out before he even had come close to landing. And now, here he was; without resources, and without his cousin, Felonia.  
  
One of the humans walked towards him and pulled him out of the fountain he'd landed in. "'Ola, el gato'," he said. "I've been looking for a part-time assistant to help me in my art studio. Willing to take the job?"  
  
"Where am I?" Chaos Kitten asked, unsure.  
  
"You're in a town right outside of Madrid, Spain," said the man. "But enough small talk. We have masterpieces to create!"  
  
Staggering with him as best he could, C.K. followed him to his art studio. At least he'd be able to stay alive; but now, he knew that he couldn't relive his cause for world conquest here in Spain. Put it shortly, he was finished as a terrorist.  
  
"Guess I'd better learn how to rearrange art supplies," Chaos Kitten muttered as he followed the man inside.  
  
-----  
  
The underground building was dark; just as Ambush Cat remembered it. He had just finished clearing out all things that COULD be evacuated from the building, including a few boxes of Trivial Pursuit games; but now it was time to finish it so that no other villain would be able to take advantage of what lay inside.  
  
After he finished his prowling, he scampered outside, stepping on a small remote control as he did so. There weren't even any flashes of light or huge explosions; the ground simply collapsed on itself as the dynamite Ambush Cat had planted did its work. A.C. looked back, pleased, then scampered back home.  
  
Once the explosions and cave-ins subsided, a broken door partially surfaced at the top of the heap. That door contained the logos of Seymour Cheese and the Animal Legion of Doom, and told those who would listen that terrorism's semi-solid grip on the world had been broken and that the S.I.D. and the SPC had won through.  
  
----  
  
A cool breeze blew through Curtis's fur as he sat on the top of Mount Coochiyama, otherwise known simply as "Coochie". It had been havoc the last couple weeks, but things had finally quieted down....to a point, of course.  
  
"You realize, of course, that it's not going to take long for the news to leak out to the media," Shila commented from beside him.  
  
"Since when have you gotten so worried about what the media thinks?" Curtis answered without turning his head. "Besides, I could care less what the people hear about the Pizza Cats. This is the first time I've admitted it, but they're good friends, and even better samurai."  
  
"Since the day that----" Shila paused, then smiled. "Hold on a second. Why am I telling you this?"  
  
"Because you don't have anything else to do," Curtis responded. "Besides, after my friend Chris lost to you in 'Atomic Bomberman' 2 hours ago, you've been as bored as wood after a rainy day."  
  
"Your sense of humor." Shila laid one arm on his shoulder. "If it's one thing I definitely remember about you, it's your sense of humor."  
  
"Hey, it's true," Curtis remarked. "He DID lose to you. You trapped him in that passageway with that kicked bomb while I wiped out the computer player with his own."  
  
Shila shrugged. "Whatever----"  
  
A soft voice drifted up to them from the direction of Curtis's duffel bag. "Can you feel the love tonight.....it is where we are....."  
  
Shila smirked at Curtis, who only gave a dejected sigh. "Alright, Hanzou. Press the stop button on my radio, and then back away from it---SLOWLY."  
  
"Stop it yourself," the Catatonic Warrior replied from where he was standing a few feet away. His deep voice hadn't changed at all.  
  
Curtis groaned, and then turned himself around. He reached over with a claw and stopped the melody, stuffing the radio back into his duffel bag and sealing it off. "Alright, what are you REALLY here for?"  
  
"To let you know that you've already gotten the reward you deserve," growled Hanzou. "Getting your best friend back is the best thing that could possibly happen to you."  
  
"I'd feel even better if you made yourself scarce," Curtis shot back.  
  
"Say, now, you've regained some of that old bravado; but is that any way to treat one of the finest fighters known to anyone?" the Warrior answered, smirking a little. "Besides, it IS true."  
  
"Alright, alright," Curtis said. "I've got Shila back, and you've got the Supreme Catatonic back. Everything's all well and good. Is there anything else?"  
  
"Yes," Hanzou said to him, his voice taking on a cryptic tone. "The time will soon come when you will find out that your powers run deeper than you realize. I suggest you consider my words in your sanctuary of peace tonight."  
  
"Whatever," Curtis said. "Now, don't you have someplace to be going?"  
  
Hanzou smiled. "You're trying to tell me something, aren't you?"  
  
"Let me ask you something," Curtis said, starting to rub it in. "Did you pick up that personality of yours from one of King Arthur's men, or something? Your voice has a medieval tone buried somewhere in it that I can't quite dig out."  
  
The Great Warrior didn't even flinch. "What if I told you that I was formerly one of the Knights of the Round Table?"  
  
"Oh, so you probably joined Arthur on his quest for the Holy Grail, encountering unspeakable dangers such as the killer rabbit and the guy whose idea of punishment is by saying the word 'Ni'?"  
  
"That, and I fought dragons out on the fringes of the counties, which I believe is something YOU HAVEN'T done, haystack."  
  
"I'm sure Arthur was pleased, Sir Warrior. Before you went to sleep, did he say 'Knighty-Knight' to you?"  
  
"Alright, you two. Cut it out," Shila said, stopping the tirades. "C'mon, Curtis, let's get back home. I have a lot of catching up to do on the current state of events."  
  
"Right. See you around, G.W." With that, Curtis waved good-bye and then led Shila back down the mountains.  
  
The Catatonic Warrior maintained his steady gaze on them as they headed back down Mt. Coochie. "He has a lot of fire," he muttered quietly. "He's going to need every ounce of it when his final test occurs. Only then will we see whether he has the strength necessary to maintain his command. He could very well join Speedy Cerviche and his friends as the true heroes of the planet. But, then again, only time will tell."  
  
Whipping around, he headed away, vanishing into the shadows surrounding the Catatonic statue. Slowly but surely, the shadows around the statue faded away, just like the darkness.  
  
Or, rather, what the darkness was. 


	23. Epilogue

EPILOGUE  
  
  
Aldonza yawned as she walked through the door to her personal quarters; it had certainly been a tiresome day. She had to help Speedy and the others get their belongings back to the parlor; she assisted in some of the rebuilding; and, on top of all that, she had to work at the Pizza Cat. She continued with the rebuilding for quite a while after the parlor closed for the evening; and it was 10:00pm before she could finally get back to the Mansion and take a decent shower.  
  
She had to admit; she disliked water, but cold water always did the trick when it came to washing the perspiration out of her fur.   
  
Aldonza climbed into bed, nearly tripping over her long tail as she did so. She closed her eyes, but then reopened them as she remembered something: her journal. She opened the drawer and pulled out the gray-covered journal, with the pencil inside. For a moment, she tapped her pencil thoughtfully against her now-opened journal, considering what to write. Then, straightening herself in bed, she began.  
  
"Hello again. Anything good going on?.....No?....It's been a little while since I've talked to you. Care to hear what's been going on?  
  
"Little Tokyo was besieged recently from the next in a line of idiot terrorists. He called himself Chaos Kitten, and he almost did everyone in. If it wasn't for Vi sneaking behind him and yanking the sword out of his hands, he probably would've defeated us. However, justice prevailed.  
  
"Different things have come about as a result. First off, I'd like you to meet Chaos Kitten's cousin, Felonia Jase. After the Supreme Catatonic flung C.K. clear to Spain, she almost broke down in tears. Thankfully, now, she's recovered. She's accepted a temporary job as a cook at Bat Cat's pizza parlor. She's trying to save up enough money, because she'll be leaving in about 5 months for America. In the meantime, she's living off of Bat Cat's finances. She told me she wants to find her parents and let them know she's okay, and also to bring her relatives to justice for what they've done to her. Considering her emotional scars, I can't say I blame her.  
  
"Took a little while for Curtis to get back up to speed from his pre-transformation injury, but he and the Pizza Cats are now fully healthy, including Francine. What Ambush Cat did for Francine was truly amazing. But, then again, he's a Super-Cat like the rest of us. He knows what he's good for."  
  
Curtis walked on past, muttering something, and hopped into his own bed. He didn't even bother to switch off the light. Aldonza gave a light-hearted smirk, and continued writing.  
  
"As for what's happening in New York, the Cheese crime family's been disbanded and thrown in jail, each and every one of them. The Super-Cats' Infinite Defense brought down some money in order to help with city and country-wide repairs, and the place is started to look as good as new. That's good; because I'm going there in a week or two to visit my mother, who probably drove the surrounding robots insane with her recipe for cinnamon cookies. Her last phone call implied that she's okay, although I tend to wonder what she was really thinking as the robots roared through the area.  
  
"Oh, and did I forget to mention that Polly's had kittens? That's right. She has 5, count them, FIVE kittens! This was all thanks to Atom Cat and Guru Lou, whose scientific geniuses created a formula that would allow Little Tokyo cats to reproduce like their domesticated cousins. I got to see them, recently; they're really quite cute. One of them even looks like Speedy! Just what we needed, huh? Of course, when I tried to talk to him, he hissed at me and told me to bug out. That's one of the disadvantages of a kitten having the mind of a Super-Cat.  
  
"And, because of the new-found skills that Violet displayed recently, Empress Frieda has, believe it or not, crowned her as the NEW EMPRESS! I can't believe it either, and sometimes I tend to doubt Frieda's judgements, but I do think that she's going to be an excellent ruler. Frieda's going to be sticking around, still; after all, she IS Violet's mother. Fred? Now, Fred's another story. When I tried to talk to him, the only response I got was, 'Fred! Fa-red!'---which is, according to Teasy Melika, his way of saying, 'Hi, I'm Fred. Have you seen my Scatman John tape anywhere?' After that, he wandered off, presumably to run around in circles during Council meetings like he usually does.  
  
"The announcement came out yesterday that Carlos Cosmos has agreed to marry Princess Violet. Kinda odd, considering that Vi's a rabbit and Carlos's a cat; but if it's possible for Francine to date a deer, there shouldn't be any problems either. The marriage and reception is going to be in 3 weeks at the same place where Speedy and Polly were married. I wish Carlos had invited me; instead, I find myself having to work with Zapana in the W.R. for the first time in a while. Still, considering how well Zapana and I get along, unlike 5 years ago, it's the best gift I could have."  
  
Aldonza snuck a glance at Curtis, who was fast asleep, and chuckled as she put her thoughts onto paper. "And Curtis, the leader of S.I.D., is himself again. The Animal Legion of Doom is gone, and he has his best friend, Shila, back in the Mansion again. His temper tantrums will be limited, and that's good, because before Shila first showed up, he was prone to rampaging around. I won't go so far as to suggest they'll get married someday, but who knows? He still has another 127 years to live, thanks to his mutated DNA. Anything could happen in that time.  
  
"Finally...ah, Ambush Cat. What can I say about him? He short-circuited that robot in such a way as to make Zero proud of him. He was furious about what Chaos Kitten had done to Francine, and he was willing to stop him any way he can. He has the heart of a Super-Cat....however, I think he also has the brain of a Psyduck, considering how often he likes to bite my tail."  
  
Aldonza stifled a yawn. "Speaking of Psyduck, I'd better get going and get some sleep. My favorite show is on in the morning, and I don't plan on missing it."  
  
With that, Aldonza closed the journal and stuck the pencil inside. She set the journal on her beside table and switched off the light. Yawning, she stretched out in bed for a well-deserved sleep.  
  
------  
  
In far off America, the wind blew across the streets, scattering papers and scrap alike. A newspaper clipping with the headline: "SUPER-CATS, NYPC THWART THE CHEESES", blew across the street and landed at the feet of a pedestrian.  
  
"If those robots had made it to California, I would've stopped them myself," the figure hissed. "They would've been disturbing my peace. And now, the media's doing the same thing." He picked up the clipping and crumpled it inside his hands. "No more. Enough. No more."  
  
He hissed again. "The Cheese stood alone. And now, so do I. I, Thunderball Visello, have had enough. I will find some way to deal with this threat to my peace and quiet, regardless the cost."  
  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...................... 


End file.
